Harry and the Marauders
by BlueGryphon
Summary: Things are even more dangerous for Harry than usual, so Dumbledore sends him to the only place he'll be safe - the past. He happens to end up at a certain time. Lots of pranks and humour. COMPLETE!
1. Prologue

It was the very beginning of September, and Professor Dumbledore, the esteemed Headmaster of Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry summoned Harry Potter, the equally famous Boy Who Lived to his study. The teenager had spent most of the holidays at school, training hard with the harsh Auror known as Mad Eye Moody.  
  
Harry looked tired from his morning training, and slightly haunted by his experiences. He looked ill, but most of it was in his mind - guilt, pressure, stress and unhappiness.  
"Are you ready to do this, Harry?" the teacher asked kindly, knowing that this was the only option to keep him safe, and hopefully make him happy again.  
  
"Yes sir, I suppose so." An unsure answer, Harry rarely committed to anything now, however minor, and he never seemed to smile at all. Oh, if only he'd been able to spare him some of the pain that he'd been suffering for so long, especially Sirius's death.  
"I'm afraid it is impossible to predict where an when in time you'll end up, but I've set the spell to bring you back here on your eighteenth birthday, or at the instant of Voldemort's death. I have to say that, given the prophecy that I told you, that that is very unlikely to happen without your involvement, but we can always hope. After all, Voldemort is an old man now, almost as old as I am and I carry a great many years with me. Are you ready now, got your wand?"  
  
"Yes sir," Harry said, patting the pocket of his robes.  
"Good luck, Harry Potter," Dumbledore said, and flicked his wand. 


	2. Chapter 1

Harry noted absently that the teacher looked somewhat younger than he usually did. Maybe it was because there had been few Death Eater attacks since the day that. that Sirius died.  
  
"Professor Dumbledore," he said, rather disappointed. "I don't think it worked." There were times when he'd be very glad just to be another Hogwarts student without these sorts of things happening to him, rather than the Boy Who Lived.  
"What?" the elderly man said, looking up straight at him with absolutely no sign of recognition that Harry could detect. "Who are you, young man?"  
"Oh, I guess it did work then," Harry said gloomily. "I'm Harry Potter, you sent me from the future to protect me from Voldemort. I'm the top of his target list."  
"Do you have any proof of this at all, I fear I cannot admit anyone of your age to the school without first being certain that they pose no threat to the children."  
"No sir, but you can cast the Confidius Charm on me if you want to, I really don't mind."  
"That is kind. Confidio!"  
  
Harry shut his eyes tightly against the bright golden glow that radiated from Dumbledore's wand into every part of Harry's body. It left a warm feeling behind as it passed. He opened his eyes and smiled for the first time in months. He could see that there was still a faint golden aura around him.  
"Thank you sir," Harry said, and meant it.  
"You are telling the truth, or at least you have no evil intentions and you aren't a Dark wizard. You are however very sad. Is there a reason for this?"  
"I've had some bad experiences recently. My godfather has just been killed, and I blame myself really, although people say it wasn't my fault."  
  
"No man would want a boy to suffer guilt, when there was nothing he could do to change what has already taken place. I know that I must have had good reasons for taking such an extreme step as bringing you here of all times. Do you know where and when you are?"  
"I know that I'm in the Headmaster's office at Hogwarts school, and its sometime in the past from my perspective, but I don't know exactly."  
"No, I suppose you wouldn't, come to that. Later today, a boy called James Potter will start his sixth year here. I assume that he is a relative of yours, you look very like him."  
"Yes Professor, he's my father."  
"Hmm, then I believe I can guess who your mother must be, however unlikely it seems to me at this moment in time. You have her eyes, you know."  
"That's what everyone says. I look like my dad, but I have my mum's eyes."  
"Its true, very true. How old are you?"  
"I'm sixteen sir, just about to start my sixth year actually."  
"Very well, Mr Potter, as a boy has recently left from that year, there is room for you to continue your schooling in those classes. You will have to be Sorted again, of course, although I assume you have been put into Gryffindor house."  
"Of course, sir."  
  
Dumbledore seemed to be thinking very hard for a moment, then he continued.  
"I will take this opportunity to warn you that you must not tell anyone anything about what will happen in the future. This includes things that you have experienced during your lifetime and things you've learned in History that took place after this day. Understood?"  
"Yes sir."  
"Excellent. Since you can't be known as Potter, for obvious reasons, how does Jamieson sound to you? It is perfect truth, after all Harry." His eyes were sparkling with humor, and they didn't have the tired look that Harry was familiar with. He grinned. It felt strange to be doing it again, but within ten minutes of arriving, he'd smiled more times than in the past three months.  
"Great sir."  
"Now, I'd better heal your eyes so you don't require those spectacles. With them you look abnormally like James and that won't do - the relationship would be obvious to anyone with eyes and a moderate size of brain. Leave them hear now. I see you have brought your things with you?"  
"All your idea, sir."  
"How intelligent I must become in my old age," Dumbledore mused, smiling at Harry. "Now, a few minor administrative details. I'll need your OWL results. I'll read the subjects out, and tell me your mark so I can write it down."  
"Uh, okay."  
"Transfiguration?  
"Outstanding."  
"Defense Against the Dark Arts?"  
"Outstanding."  
"Herbology?"  
"Exceeds Expectations."  
"Charms?"  
"Outstanding."  
"Astronomy?"  
"Exceeds Expectations."  
"History of Magic?"  
"Acceptable."  
"Potions?  
"Outstanding."  
"Care of Magical Creatures?"  
"Exceeds Expectations."  
"Did you do any other subject?"  
"Divination sir, I got Poor."  
"That is understandable, since I assume you aren't a true seer. Those are outstanding results, you'll fit in very nicely here, I can tell."  
  
Harry was rightfully very proud of his OWL results, after all, he'd achieved an Outstanding in Potions of all subjects, and he had always known that he was going to fail Divination. Hermione, of course, had got straight Outstandings bar a single Exceeds Expectations in Care of Magical Creatures that she was devastated about. He didn't know yet what Ron had got, since he'd forgotten to owl Harry the day they got them. Any later than that, and it wouldn't have got to Privet Drive before Harry was moved to Grimwauld Place, then to Hogwarts, and then sent here, where there wasn't a chance of the poor owl, Pig, Ron called it, finding him under any circumstances.  
  
"Had you decided on your NEWT subjects yet?"  
"Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Potions, Charms and Care of Magical Creatures. I'm hoping to become an Auror when I leave school sir."  
"With those results, I'd say that you stand a very good chance, although very few students are accepted by them. Thank you Harry, I will enter you on the registers immediately. Off you go, now. Make sure you're in the Entrance Hall at six o'clock promptly. I will tell Professor McGonagall to expect you then."  
  
Harry gently stroked Fawkes familiarly - he was very fond of the phoenix - and left. He wandered the familiar corridors in no apparent direction. His things were still sitting forgotten in Dumbledore's office, and since he was to be Resorted, it would look odd if he went now to Gryffindor tower.  
  
Harry Jamieson - he must remember that. Jamieson: that had the problem that he might burst out laughing whenever someone called him that. He was coming from a . a school in Cornwall, but it had been very small, so no one would have heard of it, but he'd heard a lot about Hogwarts from the teachers there. He was transferring because. because his guardian thought it would be safer for him with Voldemort getting so powerful. He'd have to remember that, he couldn't afford to slip up at all. 


	3. Chapter 2

Author's Note: thanks to all my reviewers. Just to clarify a few points, I think Dumbledore can't be more than fifteen years older than Voldemort, because in Chamber of Secrets, when Riddle shows Harry what happened, his hair is still described as auburn. If he was more than fifty, wouldn't it be showing gray? I know someone said the name Jamieson has been used already, but I'd be surprised if it hadn't been. It is the obvious name - James's son - and I thought it fitted Dumbledore's sense of humor quite well.  
  
At last, after long hours of waiting that seemed to Harry like years, six o'clock came round. Harry went down to the Entrance Hall, and watched silently and solemnly as the students came pouring in out of the Thestral drawn carriages, through the chill of the evening and past him into the Great Hall. They were in tight, chattering huddles that seemed, unintentionally he sure, to exclude him from their lives and their knowledge. He felt Ron and Hermione's absence keenly - they were the first friends he'd ever known, and this would be the first time he'd ever had to face a school year without them.  
"Jamieson?" Harry spun around to see Professor McGonagall standing behind him, carrying a scroll on which was inscribed the names of all the students to be sorted. She looked a lot younger than in Harry's time (well, duh, she is twenty years younger) and wore her hair loosely tied back rather than pulled up tightly into an austere bun that did nothing for her looks.  
"Yes, Professor, that's me."  
"I am Professor McGonagall: Head of Gryffindor house and Professor of Transfiguration. The headmaster tells me that you are to be Sorted?"  
"Yes Professor."  
"And you are to be in the sixth year, correct?"  
"Yes Professor."  
"Very well, when the first years arrive, we will go into the Great Hall. You will be Sorted first."  
  
Harry watched impatiently as Hagrid, his old friend the gamekeeper guided the crowd of bedraggled first years through the huge doors. They all looked very young and innocent compared to how weary and aged Harry felt. Some of them looked terrified. Then, maybe Voldemort hadn't affected their lives yet. A few of them looked curiously at the tall, dark haired boy standing behind her like a shadow, but most didn't even notice he was there.  
  
Professor McGonagall introduced herself again and led them all through to the Great Hall. It was an impressive sight, especially the first time, Harry conceded. The first year boys and girls were gaping around like mindless idiots at the ceiling, the candles and the other students, but all of these were familiar sights to Harry now, although he'd been as stunned his first time. He was far more concerned about the Sorting itself. The Hat sung its song - the usual introduction to each of the four houses, there was nothing unusual there - and the Sorting began.  
  
"We have a new student in the sixth year starting at Hogwarts. Jamieson, Harry."  
  
Harry bit his lip to calm himself down, stepped composedly forward, sat down on the little stool and pulled the Hat down over his eyes.  
:Hmmm, from the future eh? You can't hide that from me, Potter, much as you were trying, and your occlumency won't help you here, not that you're at all bad at it. I won't be telling anyone, though, so your secret is safe. So I put you in Gryffindor before, but wasn't sure. Yes, that feels right from what is here in your head. At the time I believe you would have done supremely well in Slytherin, but you have changed greatly since then. Now, there is really no choice to make, you're definitely.:  
"GRYFFINDOR!" the Hat yelled out. The students at the house tables applauded and Harry breathed out, greatly relieved by this. He went over to the merry Gryffindor table.  
  
"Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?" he asked a brown haired boy who appeared around Harry's own age.  
"Sure," the other boy replied. He looked vaguely familiar, but Harry couldn't quite place him. "Remus Lupin, I'm in sixth year. These are James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew, all sixth years."  
"Pleased to meet you," Harry said, finding himself unable to smile as he would have liked to as his habit of solemner expressions kicked in. "I'm Harry Jamieson, but I guess you already knew that really, after the Sorting."  
"Where are you from, then?" James asked. "We don't often get new entrants this late on I don't think."  
"I . uh. a school down in Cornwall, it's really small, I'm sure you won't know it - I mean, no one does."  
"Shh," Remus hissed at them. "The first years are being Sorted now." The other boys grinned indulgently at him, and Harry looked at them curiously while they turned they attention back to the Sorting.  
  
James did look unbelievably like Harry himself did - he could easily understand why so many people had remarked on it, now that he'd had a good chance to see him close up at practically his own age. Of course, James had hazel eyes, not green like Harry, still wore glasses and had no scar. Even so, Harry reckoned they could have passed for twins with very little effort.  
  
Sirius looked amazingly different from the godfather Harry had known since his third year, far more like the smiling, happy man Harry had seen in his parents' wedding photos, standing by them like a pillar of support. In his own time, it was clear that the many years in Azkaban had taken their toll on him. He had long silky black hair, and a mischievous smile was already playing about his features.  
  
Remus looked much more like Harry had always known him to, no surprises there, just a lot younger. In Peter, Harry could see a huge change. This was the timid, slightly plump boy who'd been one of his father's best friends, not the gaunt, corrupt, haunted man who'd caused his death, and almost Harry's own.  
  
When the Sorting ended, Dumbledore stood up to say a few words.  
"There is, as you all know now if you were listening, one new student in the 6th year, Harry Jamieson. James Potter, I'd like you to help him find his feet."  
"Yes Professor," James said, somewhat startled, although Harry wasn't, knowing the teacher.  
"Now, I'm not sure how much good this is going to do any of us. Still, I'd like to inform the first years and remind those of you older students who should know it by now," James was smirking at this, "that the Forbidden Forest is STRICTLY OUT OF BOUNDS to all students. On the retirement of Professor Rushwood, Professor McGonagall has accepted the post of deputy headmistress in addition to her other duties. That's all, so tuck in everyone and make it a good year for all of us at the school."  
  
There was a loud cheer, and the food appeared magically on the table. Harry attacked it eagerly. When they'd done, James said,  
"We'll take you up to Gryffindor tower with us Harry, ok?"  
"Yeah, sure."  
"Oh, and Remus?" the other boy looked up. "Hadn't you better go help to herd the first years upstairs? You're a Prefect remember, and that is your job."  
  
Remus rolled his eyes, wishing it had been James landed with the job, but went to help the other Gryffindor prefects round up the ten new first years that had been put into their house and guide them up to the common room and dormitories. 


	4. Chapter 3

Harry willingly followed James out of the hall, remembering that he wasn't meant to know where the Gryffindor common room was. Suddenly, they stopped, and Harry looked curiously around the entrance hall to see why.  
"Look who we have here," Sirius murmured to James, who smiled malevolently.  
"Are you sure you ought to?" Peter asked anxiously. "It is the first day back, and." James smiled rather indulgently at him and glanced back at Sirius for a moment.  
"You go and help Remus, Wormtail, he could probably do with a hand with the first years, you know how hard it is to get them all to stay together." Peter vanished, greatly relieved. Then Harry saw the object of their discussion: a greasy haired Slytherin boy whom he recognized as his worst ever teacher - Severus Snape.  
  
He had seen them two, and came over, backed by a couple of other boys from his house.  
"I'd be very careful, if I were you, Jamieson," Snape sneered, and Harry immediately lost any doubts he'd had about attacking him as Harry had seen his father do in Snape's pensieve. He'd definitely be joining in if this came to a confrontation, because he couldn't stand the obvious disgust in the Slytherin's voice.  
"These," Snape said, then paused before continuing. "Boys, aren't always the safest people to be around if you actually want to learn something at this school."  
"Shut up, Snivellus!" James snapped abruptly. Harry agreed with him. "Take that back!"  
  
Harry's temper immediately went out of control as Snape's hand strayed to his pocket and pulled out his wand - he seemed to be getting almost as paranoid as Mad Eye Moody, and that was really saying something.  
"Expelliarmus!" he called out, remembering fondly that it had been Snape himself that had taught this particularly useful spell to him. Snape's wand flew into Harry's outstretched hand. James smiled approvingly at him.  
  
"Are you going to be a good boy and apologize now?" he asked patronizingly. Snape glared at him, but since his sidekicks had vanished into the crowd and he was wandless with his wand in 'enemy' hands, he saw no other alternative.  
"All right," he said, very reluctantly. "I apologize for anything misleading that I've said to you this evening."  
"What's going on here?" Professor McGonagall asked icily. Harry jumped guiltily, about a foot into the air from what it felt like - he hadn't seen or heard her coming.  
"Please Professor, Mr Snape said something that wasn't strictly true, so he was just apologizing," Sirius explained glibly. The teacher looked at him doubtfully; she did not seem at all convinced, and probably had good reason.  
"Mr Jamieson, is that true?" she asked the only witness who she believed might be impartial.  
"Yes Professor," Harry said dutifully. "He said that it wasn't good for me to stay around Potter, but the headmaster told me to so I am going to."  
"Very well. Mr Snape, if the Headmaster assigns Potter to guide Jamieson, it is none of your business, and I would be very careful in case what you have said could be construed as criticism of Professor Dumbledore. That is something that I will not countenance in any circumstances. Kindly try to set a better example to Mr Jamieson, please. He is new, if you remember, and what he must be thinking of us I really don't know."  
"I'm sorry Professor."  
  
James waited until Severus Snape was properly groveling before the Gryffindor teacher before walking jauntily off, followed cheerfully by his friends.  
"Thank you, Harry, that was very smooth," said Sirius approvingly. Harry grinned in response - however bad they'd seemed in Snape's pensieve last year, he could see now that they'd definitely had a lot of provocation to put up with even if there hadn't been any on that particular occasion.  
  
When they were finally safely upstairs in the Gryffindor common room, well away from provoking Slytherins, a girl came up to them. She was short and had coppery orange hair. Her eyes were an unusual bright green.  
"Hello," she said responsibly. "You're Harry Jamieson, aren't you? Welcome to Gryffindor House. I hope you won't find it too bad sharing a dormitory with those louts of Marauders. I'm Lily Evans, one of the sixth year prefects, so you can come to me if you need help with anything or have questions to ask about the school"  
  
Harry stared at the girl that would one day become his mother, totally taken aback and at a loss for words (a very rare happening as any of his friends could tell you).  
"Uh, thank you Lily."  
"You're welcome."  
"Oh come on Evans," James interrupted, deepening his voice. "We're not that bad."  
"No you're worse," she said bluntly, then wandered back over to her own friends. James looked dejected, whilst Sirius nudged Harry with his elbow.  
"Ow!" he yelped. Sirius glared at him.  
"James has a serious crush on Lily, but she can't stand the sight of him. I reckon she'll come round to him eventually though, or poor James is going to really suffer."  
"And you'd have something to do with it, no doubt," James said gloomily. "She does like our jokes, she just sympathizes with Snivellus. I can't think why, he's an ugly, slimy git and he calls her a Mudblood all the time."  
"That's awful!" Harry said, glad that he actually knew what Mudblood meant. Then he decided he'd better change the subject before James got even more worked up than he was already. "Uh, who are the Marauders?"  
"She shouldn't really have let that slip so soon, but I suppose you did save us from detention with McGonagall. We're the Marauders: Sirius, Remus, Peter and me. We've got a certain reputation for doing. um. mad things."  
"Cool! What are you planning next?" Harry asked eagerly.  
  
James and Sirius looked at him doubtfully, then shrugged and beckoned the other two over.  
"What shall we do first?" James asked thoughtfully. "We need a good prank to start the term in style."  
"I came across a really nice charm this summer in one of mum's hair books," Remus told them and the others grinned. "Turns your hair a different colour, red for instance, and I bet we could adapt it easily to have the Gryffindor crest as well."  
"But how do we get into the Slytherin dorms to cast it?" James asked, jumping to the practicalities. "We can't do it on anyone else. It's a great idea though, if we could make it work properly it would be brilliant. We could always use it for the next Quidditch match and slip into their changing rooms. Peter; see if you can't find something to arrange that. For now, though, how about a Niffler? That's always funny."  
"Nah, too boring, we've done that a million times already," Sirius reminded him. "How about enchanting the suits of armor?"  
"To do what?" James demanded at once.  
"Hide Snivellus's bag whenever he puts it down," Sirius replied promptly, although he'd obviously made that up on the spur of the moment.  
"No, not obvious enough."  
"What, does ickle Jamesie want to impress someone?"  
"Shut up Padfoot! What about making them blockade the stairs to the dungeons? Who knows, we might get out of Potions if we time it right. I know you don't do Potions, Peter, but the rest of us do. Do you, Harry?"  
"Yes," said Harry, very gloomy at the reminder. He had to do it if he wanted to become an Auror, but that definitely didn't mean he had to like it.  
"That's four of us then."  
"What would you say," Harry said, thinking quickly. "To having a lake across one of the corridors? I think I know how to do a charm to make one."  
"Sirius," James said, thumping Harry heartily on the back. "We have a genius in our midst. But where do we put it?"  
  
The other four debated enthusiastically as to in which of the Hogwarts corridors a lake would cause the greatest disruption to the school at large, while Harry desperately groped to recall the spell that the Weasley twins had taught him for creating a swamp. He might have done a swamp himself, but he thought that a lake would look prettier and smell a lot better. He was overjoyed that he seemed to have been accepted by the others, on probation at least. Harry actually thought, although he wasn't sure, that he knew a way of getting into the Slytherin common room, but he didn't want to risk making the others suspicious of him knowing his way around and lose their friendship all together. 


	5. Chapter 4

Author's Note: thanks again for all the reviews I've been getting. I'd just like to tell you all that I'm writing another HP fanfic, and I'd love it if you'd take the time to read it and tell me what you think, even if you don't like it. Constructive flames are very welcome.  
  
A few days later, the five of them got up early and went down to their chosen area. Harry cast the adapted spell. Nothing happened. He tried again, and to his very great relief, a lake appeared, going from wall to wall with no apparent way to get across without swimming. Sirius knelt down by the water and put a hand in, expecting to feel the floor within five centimeters. He rolled up his sleeve and dunked his whole arm in. Then he stood up, nodding in satisfaction.  
"That'll do us great," he said. "Did you want to add anything, James?"  
"Uh, yeah, if you don't mind."  
  
James added some flowers to the otherwise bare lake. They were water lilies, and then normal lilies around the walls, just to add to the effect of course. He had no idea that these flowers happened to share the same name as the girl he fancied. Sirius gave a long suffering sigh and said, relieved when he finished.  
"Just one last thing then. James, want to do the honors?"  
"Any time, Padfoot."  
  
He and James muttered a few words together, taking great care that Harry didn't see, and a huge white 'M' appeared, hovering over the middle of the water.  
"Our trademark," James explained when Harry looked at him questioningly.  
"Doesn't that kind of defeat the point?" Harry asked. "It looks like it just tells the teachers that you did."  
"They always guess anyway, we do have a certain reputation, so we might as well be proud of things. No one else would dare to pull our sort of pranks. When we were in third year, the first years tried to copy us and make a group, so we started pranking them. They gave up within the week."  
  
At breakfast later that morning, Lily Evans came up to them, her eyes twinkling with suppressed laughter. Of course, a prefect couldn't show amusement openly before the younger students because it would be bad for discipline.  
"It was you that did the lake, wasn't it? It's brilliant, even if it did take an extra five minutes to get to breakfast! I kind of liked the lilies too, was that you, Remus?"  
"No, sorry, it wasn't me."  
"Oh, and I heard Dumbledore say that he wanted to leave it for a while because it was such a good piece of charm work - it looked like he was finding it hilarious. McGonagall wasn't, and she banished it like a shot. Shame, really, the Slytherins have Divination today, and you know how stressed Professor Marshwater gets if you're late. The only way they can get up to the tower would be to swim the lake!"  
"It wasn't so hard really," James said negligently. "I'll show you if you want. Harry was the one who found the spell though."  
"You did do the flowers," Harry reminded him. James blushed and glared at him.  
"You did the flowers?" Lily asked, then, in mock astonishment, "Thanks, but wow! Potter's finally learned the meaning of modesty! Yeah, please, I'd love to learn. It might be really useful in charms, especially if you got the spell from the charm we learned in third year for making goldfish bowls."  
"I did, actually, but it went through a stage as a swamp first, but that smells," Harry told her, impressed at how quickly she'd worked it out.  
"How about this evening, then? I've got Quidditch, but after that?"  
"Sure, see you."  
"Bye Evans."  
  
James stared after her, absolutely astonished by this response. Sirius and Harry were desperately trying to control their laughter - the dumbstruck look on his face was absolutely unbelievable. Peter was looking puzzled by this exchange, and Remus was grinning, but controlled it much better.  
"She practically agreed to go out with me!" James said, astonished.  
"Be serious, James," Remus warned him, squashing this idea as soon as it came. "All she agreed to was you helping her with homework after lessons."  
"Homework!" James exclaimed incredulously. "This is purely an out of school commitment. How long is it until Valentine's Day." This comment sent Sirius and Harry into even more hysterics. Remus sighed.  
"It's about six months, you twit. You've got to do better than that if you want to go out with Lily, because there's a Ravenclaw seventh year who likes her."  
"Pessimist," James said, pulling a face at him. "Harry, what do you think?"  
"Oh," Harry said, controlling himself. "You'll get her in the end, but it'll probably take another year or so, I should think from what I've seen."  
"You're almost as bad as Remus, and I thought that was impossible. Peter?"  
"I don't know, I've never had a girlfriend."  
"Never had a girlfriend! We'll have to find you one before the end of term at least. What about you Sirius? You think I'll get her, don't you?"  
"She's coming round all right, she'd never have agreed to spending five minutes with you last term if she had any other choice, even Snape was better in her opinion."  
"At last," James said, somewhat surprised. "There is someone who believes in me. Okay, what do I do next?"  
"Teach her the spell, dunce, and then I might have a few ideas you can use."  
  
* * * * * *  
  
That afternoon, in their last lesson of the day, James had a sudden thought.  
"Harry, do you play Quidditch at all?"  
"Yeah, of course, doesn't everybody?"  
"What position?"  
"Seeker."  
"Great! Team tryouts are tonight - I'm the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, and we need a Seeker and a Beater."  
"Well, how many people do you think will try out?"  
"Oh a few, probably. Not many, most people prefer playing as Chaser to being the Seeker because you tend to get a bit more action. I was a Seeker until Johns left and we were desperate for a decent Chaser. I hope you do get in, because I know that there aren't really any other prospective players who I'd want to have in the team at all if there's any other choice."  
"Well, I'll be there."  
  
So, straight after the end of the lesson, Harry sprinted upstairs to fetch his prized Firebolt. Out on the Quidditch pitch, the broom received much admiration.  
"Nice broom, Harry," James said. "Where did you get it?"  
"The Quidditch master at my old school was a genius for making brooms. He made it especially for me, so it fits me perfectly. He calls it a Firebolt, and he's considering selling the design to one of the big companies."  
"Well, if that's the sort of broom you're flying, I can see you being a real asset to the team. You're the only Seeker candidate who's turned up, actually. Sirius is taking a couple of Beaters down the other end, but I reckon that young Shacklebolt will get it. He's younger than I'd like for a Beater, and quite small, but he's got real style. So, let's see what you can do. I'll let the Snitch out, give it a minute's head start, then you go and get it."  
"Sure."  
  
Harry decided that now was the time to show off, so he circled high above the field, then he was released and dived straight down, catching the Snitch and pulling up from just five centimeters from the ground. James was impressed.  
"You're on Harry. I think you're better than I was when I was a Seeker too. If the Beater's as good, we stand a good chance of winning the Quidditch Cup this year. Have you got robes?"  
"Uh yes, I was on my old school's team, and I'll charm them to be the right colors."  
"Great, well I'll see you this evening."  
  
James sprinted inside after that, waving to Sirius to carry on. He had more important things to do - i.e. find Lily. By the time Harry got in, they'd gone and Peter told him that they'd gone to find somewhere private where they could practice. Harry doubted if that would be all they'd be doing, although Peter didn't seem to realize that they could have practiced in the common room if they wanted.  
  
When they returned a few hours later, James looked inordinately smug and refused point blank to tell them anything about what had happened between them.  
"Fine," said Harry irritably. He felt he had the right to know what his parents were doing together on their first date. "I won't tell you my idea for getting into the Slytherin common room, but since its so obvious that a new boy could work it out, I'm sure you'll find it out for yourself soon. Come on Sirius, let's go outside. I'm sure we can think of a few things to do."  
"Please!" James begged desperately. "I'd like to tell you guys, but Lily swore me to secrecy and she'd kill me. Remus, you can talk to her if you want, but I bet she'll be keeping her mouth shut. I can't miss out on the biggest pranks of the century!"  
"Shall we let him in, Sirius?" Harry asked doubtfully. James looked pathetic.  
"Oh all right," Sirius said, melting at the look on his friend's face. "Although he doesn't really deserve it."  
"Thank you Padfoot, I'm eternally in your debt."  
"Yeah right - you'll have forgotten that by tomorrow."  
"Well, it's the sentiment that counts."  
"Shut up, or I won't tell either of you and I'll just be telling Remus and Peter. It honestly isn't anything you couldn't have worked out for yourselves if you'd been paying attention, of course."  
"What?"  
"That Dark Knight, that's the Slytherin portrait, has always had a crush on the Fat Lady. I think, but I'm not sure, that they were seeing each other before they agreed to guard the houses. The problem is that now they both have to stay where they are to guard the entrances and let us in and out."  
"Meaning that if we start running, oh a messenger service or something, he might just let us through," James said eagerly, instantly catching on. "Hey, Peter, you look the sweetest. Go offer to run errands for the Fat Lady."  
"Please," Remus prompted.  
"Please Peter," James repeated obediently.  
"Okay, but what do I do if she can't think of anything she wants done?"  
"Ask if there are any other portraits that you could take a message to," Remus hinted.  
  
Peter ran off, always glad to do something for James. A few minutes later he was back.  
"You were right, she did send me to him," he said exuberantly. "He was practically crying when I told him."  
"Well done Peter," Remus said. "You don't mind doing it, do you? The rest of us can take turns if you want a break from it, we're happy to."  
"No, really, I'm fine," he said proudly, glad there was something that he could do better than them. "So, do I see if I can hear the Slytherins going in?"  
"That's it, Pete. I'd actually thought of just sucking up so much that he told us, but your idea's better," James conceded. Peter beamed at this high praise.  
"I'll get back to it then, the sooner I find out the better. It was really funny seeing the Slytherins' faces when they saw me comfortably chatting to their portrait. Some of them looked really suspicious of me though."  
"Can't think why," said Harry. "Your conscience is practically non- existent compared to the number of gross misdeeds that James, Sirius and me have hanging over ours. You really don't get the trust you deserve, Peter." 


	6. Chapter 5

Author's Note: sorry this is so short, but I've put two up this time to make up for it. Please read and review - any sort of feedback is really helpful.  
  
A week or so after their first successful prank of the year, Peter produced a Muggle camera. He'd been bought it during the holidays as a present from a Squib cousin and had completely forgotten about it - why should he use a Muggle camera when wizard portraits are so much more interesting for everyone?  
"I've got it," he said miserably. "But I don't think I even know how to work it, let alone get proper pictures from it. Do any of you guys know, by any chance?" Harry laughed.  
"Here, I'll show you. Open the shutter thing, look through there and press the button. Have a go, James and I will pose for you."  
  
They had great fun taking the pictures, the wizard boys absolutely fascinated by the mechanics of the camera, and took a good number of them in groups and individual ones. This lasted for about five days before they got bored of it.  
"What do we do now, Harry?" James asked. "Don't we have to treat them before they're any good?" For a wizard boy with no Muggle relatives at all, he was remarkably well informed.  
"Yes," replied Harry. "But I'm not sure how to do it. Muggles take them to shops to have it done, so I've never done it. I have an idea about where we could try though. It's called the Room of Requirement - I'll take you to the corridor, and it'll hopefully appear if we think hard enough about needing all the stuff. I read about it in a book about Hogwarts that I found in my old school's library," Harry added, hoping that that would explain his knowledge. "If we do it right, it'll turn up with everything we need, and instructions on everything that we need to do."  
  
He took them up to the corridor that evening, and sure enough the elusive room appeared for them. Harry had found that there was a knack to it, and all of the DA sessions had given him plenty of practice. Inside they found trays of liquid and a number of instruction booklets with illustrations telling them what to do and how to get the best possible results. It was, needless to say, a very messy process when carried out by five teenage boys who'd never done anything of the sort before, but they managed.  
"Why haven't we found this room before?" James asked the world at large. "It's brilliant! Did you say that it comes up with whatever you need?"  
"Yes."  
"It was a great idea coming here, by the way. I could see the others getting a bit stressy if we tried it in the common room, or in the dormitory."  
"Yeah, well I don't think many people know about it, and because its not always here, it wouldn't show up on any map or diagram that you made. It would be pretty hard to make a Map of Hogwarts anyway, because it's unplottable, but it would be impossible to get this room on. I think the house elves know about it though, and I bet that Dumbledore does. I don't think there's much he misses around here."  
"You're probably right. He never seems surprised by any of our pranks any more, even when he obviously finds them funny, and if we try something on the staff, we're waylaid by him before we even get started and put to doing some chore."  
"Here's the first picture!" Peter exclaimed. "It's the one of Harry, and look, he's pulling faces at us!"  
"Harry!" Remus said, pretending to be shocked. "What Lily would think I really don't know. It might put her off the lot of us for life. We'd better not show her."  
"I wasn't intending to," James said with feeling. "At least, none of the ones of me." 


	7. Chapter 6

It took a week of diligent listening before Peter heard the password to the Slytherin common room. That very night, once they were sure everyone would be asleep, the five of them slipped out of the Gryffindor common room, all of them squeezed under Harry and James's precious Invisibility Cloaks. Technically, Harry thought, they were actually the same cloak, but he wasn't even going to try to think about and unravel the paradoxes involved so long as they were both there and both worked.  
  
When they came to the portrait of the Dark Knight, James hoarsely whispered,  
"Parseltongue." The portrait swung out, and the Marauders climbed into the Slytherin common room.  
  
Harry looked around curiously. He'd been there before, when he'd been in his second year, but that was a long time into the future, and things might have changed. He'd also been much more worried about his disguise as Crabbe not holding and being recognized than viewing the scenery. They were in a low underground room, with rough stone walls and ceiling, from which round, greenish coloured lamps were hanging on chains. A fireplace was bare under an elaborately carved mantelpiece, and several carved wooden straight backed chairs were scattered around. There was no comfort here, and no windows. It was very chilly.  
"Creepy," Peter whispered, shivering. Harry agreed heartily. He couldn't imagine why anyone would even want to spend five minutes in here, and was relieved once more that he hadn't been Sorted into Slytherin, but into warm, friendly, cozy Gryffindor house instead. James wasn't pleased.  
"Come on," he hissed impatiently at them. "We haven't got time to talk."  
  
They stopped immediately, and crept silently into the dormitories, working quietly and diligently through every boy there. Being boys themselves, they were unable to get into the girls' rooms, because of the unfortunate mistrust of the male sex that had caused the founders of the school to charm the staircase. When they'd finished at last, Sirius had an idea. He gestured them back into the common room and explained. Harry felt his mouth break into a grin as they raided the wardrobes. It was impossible to remain serious with these guys around. James took the time to invent an extra variation of the charm to use on Snivellus.  
  
Harry and Sirius cast the trademark 'M' in the common room while he did this. Then, done at last, they crept back into their own dormitory and fell exhausted into bed. Magic took so much energy, especially in the middle of the night!  
  
The next morning, some gleeful seventh years got them up, noticing the telltale signs of a prank. It was luckily that they did, because otherwise the Marauders would have slept straight through breakfast and missed seeing the results of their prank altogether. People who passed them in the corridors were looking eagerly around - everyone in the school knew the signs of the Marauders having struck again. Even Dumbledore smiled when he saw them come wearily into the Great Hall. Their pranks might not be quite in keeping with the school rules, but they were always amusing.  
  
Harry grinned as the five boys took carefully chosen seats in a row on the side of the table facing the Slytherins. He pointed over, and the others looked. There were no boys there at all. Dumbledore followed their gaze anxiously, wondering what on earth they'd done this time, and noticed the same thing.  
"Miss Parkinson, do you know where your male classmates are this morning?" he politely asked a seventh year prefect. She looked puzzled at this.  
"No Headmaster, I haven't seen them at all today. I suppose they're sleeping in."  
"Every boy in Slytherin? No, perhaps you would go and request that they grace us with their presence this morning? It is very unhealthy to skip breakfast."  
  
The Slytherin girl left obediently. Harry waited impatiently, fidgeting uncontrollably. At last she returned, grinning broadly despite the disloyalty to her house. No one seemed to be immune to laughter at the Marauders' pranks.  
"They're coming, but please don't laugh."  
  
The Slytherins entered in a single, long file. Every boy among them sported red hair crowned by a golden lion, and their robes red clearly and proudly 'Slytherin sucks! M' in bold silver lettering. Snape's robe was slightly different. It read in gold letters, 'Lily Evans is the most beautiful girl in the school. JP.' The whole school roared with laughter, Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors and some of the Slytherin girls who dared to risk the boys' displeasure. Even some of the teachers were joining in. Snivellus's face flushed almost the same shade of scarlet as his hair. The Marauders were laughing helplessly until tears rolled uncontrollably down their faces. The Slytherins glared menacingly at them, but of course they couldn't or didn't dare to do anything in front of the teachers.  
  
Dumbledore stood shakily up at last, mopping his merry red face with a star covered handkerchief. The laughter decreased in volume, even if it didn't vanish.  
"Misters Potter, Black, Lupin, Pettigrew and Jamieson, please would you report to my office after you've eaten." The Marauders nodded their assent, still grinning and trying to hold in their laughter. They knew full well that Dumbledore would just give them something worthless to do, such as lines, because he'd enjoyed the joke so much.  
  
When they calmed down enough to finish eating, they trooped up to where the ugly stone gargoyle marked the entrance to the office, and amused themselves by trying to guess the password - it gave them something to do.  
"Bubble gum."  
"Haribo."  
"Chocolate Frog," guessed Sirius, whose knowledge of Muggle sweets was non-existent.  
"Opal Fruit."  
"Try Bournville," Dumbledore said from behind them. The gargoyle hopped nimbly aside as the wall behind it split into two and they stepped easily up onto the spiral staircase which carried them carefully up to the office like a magical version of an escalator. Dumbledore stepped through the solid oak door at the end of the staircase and settled himself comfortably in a luxuriously padded chair behind the desk. The boys followed him in and took seats with an ease that bespoke long experience to Harry.  
"Those charms are not permanent, are they?" Dumbledore asked, mildly concerned. "Oh no," Remus hastily assured him, the others nodding. "We made sure that it would wear off completely after twenty four hours, and there are no side effects."  
"Excellent, it would be most troublesome for me to have to remove it myself, don't you think? How on earth did you get into their dormitories to cast it?"  
"That would be telling, sir," James said grinning broadly. "And we won't risk that."  
"Tell me as soon as you wish then, I'm very curious. Now, I suppose I had better give you a detention each. Go to the library this evening and write out 'I must not leave my dormitory at night' one thousand times each. Also, Mr Jamieson, perhaps you would explain the cryptic message on young Mr Snape's robes?"  
"I think James has a crush sir."  
"Harry!" James moaned, shocked by this indiscretion. "You didn't have to tell him that!"  
"No Potter, but I wanted to." 


	8. Chapter 7

A/N: Well, okay since so many of you have mentioned it (please note I've never got round to reading the interviews) I was probably wrong about Dumbledore's age, but I really can't be bothered to change it now, so count it acknowledged and don't bother mentioning it cos nothings gonna change. I'm sorry this chapter's so short, but I've just gone back to school - you can guess the rest of it yourself. I'm looking for a beta reader for Harry Potter fics at the moment, so if you're interested, please check out my Biography for more details, thanks. Now, enjoy!  
  
Since they'd got the detention they'd been expecting, they were ready to charm their quills to write their lines for them and came fully prepared for a leisurely rest. Harry could see Madam Pince, the librarian, descending on them from a distance, but James handed Harry a package and said quickly and quietly,  
"Here, take this. Say my name, and it'll show me - that way we can talk. I used to use it with Sirius all the time, but he just turns it over when I want to talk about Lily. I think he's jealous, myself. You'll at least listen, won't you?" Harry sighed, he wasn't sure this was going to be so fun as James made it sound. Sirius was more likely to have had the right idea, but still, he might learn something.  
"All right."  
"Potter, over in that corner," Madam Pince interrupted them. "I expect you to be silent, of course, and not try to talk to the other students using the library. Black, over in that corner, Lupin come by me, Pettigrew in that corner and Jamieson over by the door."  
  
Having been so efficiently split up, Harry sat down at the desk, lounging while his quill did the work. It only took a few minutes before he got bored. He picked up the mirror and studied it carefully. It was plain, with a simple wooden frame. There was nothing at all about it to suggest magic, but then, in the wizarding world, appearances were often misleading. Harry recognized it as the mirror Sirius had given him just before his fifth year had begun, and, knowing that, he knew the fundamentals of how it worked even though he'd never used it himself before.  
"James?" he said hopefully. "Has this worked, I mean, can you hear me?" The other boy's face appeared in the mirror, grinning at him but looking relieved too.  
"At last, I've been hoping for ages that you'd connect, okay, okay, a whole ten minutes then. I just remembered, I've been meaning to ask you, who are your parents? Obviously I don't know them, but are they wizards?"  
"Yes," Harry replied cautiously, thinking that that at least ought to be safe.  
"Come on Harry, who are they? Are they famous or something?"  
"Er," Harry said, trying desperately to think of something to say. "Well, I never really knew them. They died when I was only a baby, so I don't remember them at all." James looked guilty. Harry immediately felt remorse at making his friend feel bad, however necessary he was sure it would be. James was too quick for his own good sometimes.  
"I'm sorry mate, I didn't mean to remind you about it, I didn't know, honest. I couldn't know that it would upset you, could I? You never said so."  
  
Harry smiled, he was appreciating the great irony of his father apologizing for being killed in a situation that he could hardly have prevented.  
"Don't worry James, it was when I was a baby. So," he said, quickly trying to change the subject. "What do you like about Lily, I mean, you fancy her, don't you?"  
"Oh yes, of course, and I like everything about her. Her eyes are so green," he paused, suddenly pensive as if just realizing something. "Kind of like yours actually. Then her hair."  
  
And so he went on, and on, and on until even Harry, normally the best audience James could find since he usually loved hearing about his mother, was getting sick of it. Harry glanced desperately at the tally on his quill and noted with great relief that while James had been talking, he'd reached the one thousand line quota and exceeded it by twenty four. What a waste of time.  
"At last," he muttered to himself, then looked back at the and said out loud. "James, I'm done. I'll see you back in the common room later, okay?"  
"Cool. Can you see if you can think of what I should do next about Lily?"  
"Sure, that's really easy. I thought you were going to ask something hard. You ought to ask her out for Halloween. There'll be lots of stuff you can do other than shopping, so you'll have a great time as well."  
"Thanks, I never thought of that. See you." Harry carefully wrapped up the mirror in a jumper and put it carefully into his bag. He left, waving at the others as he went, knowing that they would follow at their own pace when they finished themselves.  
  
A/n: yup, another one. Please REVIEW!!! Also, check out my other HP fanfic, Dumbledore's Army and review it too, cos I'm getting worried about it not being any good. 


	9. Chapter 8

Later that night, at about eleven o'clock, Harry and Peter went off to bed, totally exhausted by their previous night time activities. Technically, they should really have gone at ten, but since when had the Marauders obeyed the rules? The common room now seemed very quiet, with only the other three Marauders in it, occupying one of the deserted corners.  
"What is it James, you wanted to talk to us?" Remus asked, opening his book in preparation for another long planning session. He'd been to all too many of those.  
"Yeah, well I'm sure there's something odd about Harry," James said, sounding puzzled. "But I don't know what, I just can't quite place it. He's a good Marauder, acts normally in lessons, loves Quidditch, but there's something wrong, I just know it."  
  
"Any proof?"  
"I asked him about his parents today during detention, and he didn't even tell me their names. The young wretch manipulated me into changing the subject, I only just realized."  
  
"What did he change it to?" Sirius asked curiously, wondering if he could also use it to get around James, usually one of the most alert people he knew.  
"He asked me about Lily," replied James sourly. "That's not fair really, you all know how I feel. Well anyway, I know that if I was asked about mine, I'd talk about them, even though they're. they're dead."  
"Calm down James," Sirius said, surprisingly comfortingly for his usual callous self. "It wasn't your fault that we were out when You Know Who came. They wouldn't have blamed you at all, they'd be pleased you escaped. But I do know what you mean about Harry, he's weird sometimes."  
  
James's parents had been killed in one of the rapidly increasing Death Eater raids just that summer, while James and Sirius had been out playing one of their many games of Quidditch. James still felt guilty about it, after all, it was a son's duty to be there to defend his parents, wasn't it? Sirius knew for a fact that he still had nightmares about it, and that they had been occurring regularly since the attack happened. It wasn't really a very peaceful dormitory that they slept in, with Potter and Jamieson both having nightmares regularly, and Lupin with his monthly transformations.  
  
James continued talking quickly, blinking away his tears, he hoped before the other two noticed them.  
"He never mentions his old school either, except for that one time he said it was somewhere in Cornwall. You'd have thought he'd at least have written to his old friends once, to tell them how he was getting on, but he hasn't sent one piece of mail since he got here. Anyway, I asked Professor McGonagall about it, and she said that there are no other wizarding schools in the whole of Great Britain. We're the only one and there are only two others in Europe - Durmstrang and Beauxbatons, and he's not from either."  
"That's it!" Sirius exclaimed, looking disgusted. "He's lying to us, and has been all along."  
"Try the Paternus Charm," Remus said absently, looking up from his book.  
"What?"  
"Pa-ter-nus Charm," he articulated slowly and carefully, grinning at Sirius. "It's a charm that identifies a person's parents and shows them as the person remembers them. It isn't that hard to perform either, I'm fairly sure that I could manage it. All I'd need would be a photograph, it doesn't take anything special like rare potions materials or something like that."  
"Will this do?" Sirius asked, pulling a photograph out of his pocket. Remus winced mentally - Sirius never emptied his pockets, that was a well known fact, so you never knew what you might find. The picture was one left over from when they'd been playing with Peter's camera, and Harry's image was pulling faces at them. However, what other things had been in the pocket, he'd rather not know.  
"It ought to, I mean, its definitely Harry."  
  
Remus desperately searched his memory, turned up the correct words and cast the charm, focussing with all of his brainpower on Harry and tapping the picture lightly with his wand. The grotesque image blurred and changed. When it set again, the boys stared at it, speechless for once. There was a very long silence. No one knew quite what they should say.  
"Er, is that me?" James said at last. "Uh, Remus, you must have got the spell wrong."  
"But I'm positive I got it right," Remus protested. "Okay, I suppose I must have made a mistake if it came up with you. I'm sure you can't be Harry's dad, you're too young for one thing. I'll try again, if you want."  
"Go on," James said encouragingly. He hadn't been so enthusiastic before, but it was personal now.  
  
Remus wiped the picture with his sleeve, banishing the charm. He tried again, focussing even harder and concentrating with all his might on getting the words exactly right.  
"Ah," he said, somewhat surprised, when he looked at it again. "Now I'm sure I did it right that time, there's no way I made a mistake, but how Harry's going to manage to explain this one I really don't know, James."  
"Hang on," James said thoughtfully, suddenly realizing something very important. "If he's my son, and I'm still not absolutely sure that you've got this right, and Evans is his mother, then she must have agreed to go out with me!"  
"She must have been mad when she agreed to that," Sirius muttered. He continued impatiently, there were far more important things to worry about than his friend's dating success. "Shut up James. I think Harry's got some serious explaining to do."  
"It fits though," Remus said contemplatively. "His surname, Jamieson, I hadn't noticed before! Jamieson - James's son! Then his eyes - Lily's if ever I saw them, the looks, well they speak for themselves."  
"Yeah," Sirius added, getting excited himself now. "Have you seen the way his hair sticks up at the back? It's just like James's!"  
"The next thing," Remus continued, "Is do we tell Harry what we think, or Peter?"  
"Not a chance am I telling Peter," Sirius said dismissively. "Course, he's a nice enough guy, but he'd be sure to blurt it out. He couldn't keep a secret to save his life, or James's, which is probably more important to him. I dunno about Harry though. Personally, I reckon we should try to find some other proof before we confront him with it. We'll look real dunces if we say something about James being his dad and it turns out that they aren't even related."  
"Do you still have the Map, James?" Remus asked, startling James out of his pleasant daydreams about the one, the only, the marvelous Lily Evans.  
"The Marauders' Map? Yeah, it's somewhere upstairs at any rate. I mean, we haven't needed it for years. I'll have a look for it tomorrow morning."  
"Can we go to bed now, then?" Remus asked hopefully.  
"Sure, but just think Padfoot. Lily Evans is going to marry me, despite what you said!"  
  
The next morning, after a rather short night's sleep, Remus and Sirius took Peter and Harry off to breakfast, leaving James to find the Map without them knowing. He removed it carefully from its hiding place in his bedpost, and scanned it. He'd known for definite where it was all along, but he'd wanted a good chance to look at it himself before he showed the others. After all, it was him that they thought was Harry's dad, so he did have a perfect right to confront him first.  
  
He used a basic charm to focus the Map, and to highlight any boys called Harry. There he was, in the Great Hall, at the Gryffindor table. Harry Potter - there was no mistaking it. Then James had a sudden shocking thought. Harry had said that his parents - i.e. him and Lily - had died when Harry was a baby, and had then not elaborated. James didn't want to die young, probably, he guessed, killed by You Know Who or his followers.  
  
That evening, having told the other Marauders that he was still looking for the precious Map, James put a hand on Harry's shoulder as they left their last lesson. They stopped, and James waved the others to go on ahead.  
"Harry," he said nervously. "Can I talk to you for a moment, up in the dormitory?"  
"Yeah, okay," Harry replied, not at all suspicious, since he hadn't know about their nighttime discussion.  
  
As James had anticipated, the dormitory was totally deserted at this time of day. They sat down together on James's bed, which happened to be nearest the door.  
"Harry," James said bluntly, not entirely sure what a tactful way to begin would have been. "Your name isn't Harry Jamieson, is it? It's Potter." Harry looked at him very apprehensively, and James pulled the Marauders' Map from his pocket and handed it over. 'Harry Potter' was clearly shown. The real Harry winced as he saw it written so clearly on the parchment.  
"The Marauders' Map," he said, sounding resigned to it all coming out. "I should have known."  
"How do you know about it?" James asked, startled. He'd forgotten for the moment that Harry was supposedly his son, and had gone back to thinking of him as just another student.  
"How much do you know already? I mean, I can't tell you things you don't know. Dumbledore's forbidden it in case it changes the future. Do you know who my parents are?"  
"Me and . . . and Evans."  
"Yeah," Harry said, not sounding entirely comfortable about this situation himself. "Well, Fred and George, who are the main pranksters in my time, stole the Map from Filch and passed it on to me."  
"Filch had the Map!"  
"I guess you dropped it or something. I'm here at the moment because it's too dangerous for me in my own time, but I'm afraid I can't say more than that. I'm sorry I didn't tell you straight off or go sometime else, but . . . but I had to get to know you," he said impulsively, his voice quavering. James looked at him and saw tears starting to trickle down his cheeks. "Because I wouldn't have otherwise, and I wanted to know my Mum and Dad just like everyone else."  
  
James awkwardly put an arm clumsily around Harry's shaking shoulders while he cried himself out. He reminded himself, just to calm himself down, that he would do this for any of his friends, and he wasn't just growing up and acting fatherly. He wondered what had happened to Harry to disturb him so much. After all, he was only sixteen years old. There couldn't have been that much pain in his life so far.  
  
When Harry had calmed down enough, he asked quietly,  
"Who else knows?"  
"Sirius and Remus. We talked about it last night when you and Peter were asleep, and Remus suggested a charm we could use to find out who you were."  
"Don't tell Peter, please. I'd rather just carry on like before, it's more fun and probably more comfortable for both of us. I'm kind of glad that you know though." 


	10. Chapter 9

A/N: Another short chapter, I'm sorry. I have been ill, so please forgive me. My mum banned me from the computer!!!!!!!!!!!! Another chapter (hopefully a lot longer) should be coming very soon. If you want more, check out my other fics, cos I'm updating them too.  
  
Harry was dreaming. It was his first dream about Voldemort since his arrival, and he was sure it boded no good.  
  
"Where is he you fools?" Voldemort screamed at the three Death Eaters kneeling in front of him.  
"He is not at Hogwarts," one ventured, Lucius Malfoy, Harry thought.  
"I know that! Crucio!!!" The Death Eater started writhing desperately on the floor. The others watched him in silence until Voldemort at last removed the curse.  
"Wormtail, what have you discovered?" The middle Death Eater, a cowardly wretch as Harry knew well, was visibly trembling. He could see that even through the loose black robe that he wore.  
"He - he is not at his uncle and aunt's house, or at Lupin's place."  
"I don't want to know where he isn't, that is of no concern to me. Crucio!"  
"Master! Have mercy!"  
"Cowardly rat. Why I even allowed you the privilege of joining me I really don't know. Umbridge, you were investigating the Ministry, were you not?"  
  
Harry gasped as he heard the name of his previous Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. He'd known that she was an unpleasant person, of course, but a Death Eater? That must have been why she had sent Dementors against him in the summer before fifth year, and why Fudge had been so keen to have him expelled. She'd obviously recovered from her mental problems.  
"Yes Master. Fudge is angry because he doesn't know Potter's location. Dumbledore knows, he has all but said so, but he has not told anyone at the Ministry. Weasley does not know either, although he doesn't appear to be on speaking terms with his parents at this moment in time."  
"What about the Aurors? He must have confided in at least one of them."  
"Kingsley Shacklebolt I am sure is not one of his cronies, nor are Grant, Nigellus, Avery, Bode and Warrington. The younger ones I know less of, although I'm fairly sure that Nymphadora Tonks has followed her cousin into his service."  
"That is not good news. Capture her and question her. You have told me nothing of interest about the boy. Crucio! Next time I summon you, I expect you to tell me something of interest."  
"But Master," Umbridge protested. "The woman Tonks is a metamorphmagus! She can hide in plain sight and I could never find her!"  
"If I tell you to do something, do not trouble me with technicalities!" Voldemort thundered. "I want her here within a week, do you understand?"  
"Yes Master, sorry Master."  
  
Harry woke up. James was standing over him, looking worried.  
"Are you okay, you were shouting in your sleep. None of the others are awake."  
"Voldemort's looking for me, James. He's taking people he thinks might know and tortures them to make them tell. He wants one of my friends now!"  
"Harry, there's nothing you can do about it but learn all you can so you can avenge them when you return. Do you think he'll find out that you're hear."  
"No, I don't know. How much some of the Aurors know only Dumbledore knows. They want Tonks, and she's more likely to know than anyone else."  
"We'll start work on hexes tomorrow, I promise. By the time we're done with you, you could fight a whole tribe of You Know Whos and live." 


	11. Chapter 10

Author's Note: this is a better length, huh? Okay, rules coming up. I'm not posting the next chapter until I hit 80 reviews, no exceptions. I know that you can do it in no time, so R+R! Now, enjoy, and I'm just starting some new HP fics, so check those out two and, you guessed it, review.  
  
It was Hallowe'en before James finally plucked up the courage to ask Lily out properly. He was terrified of being rejected as he had been so many times in the past, but she accepted without even dragging it out. He was teased so mercilessly by his friends when he got back from Hogsmead that evening that he refused to talk to them for a week. It was his own fault, in Harry's opinion, for looking unbearably self-satisfied. Needless to say, none of the others had serious relationships going that Harry knew about, and there wasn't a chance Harry himself was going to date someone of his dad's generation!!!!  
  
Harry had stayed with the other three that evening. It was the first time he'd gone to Hogsmead since he'd come back in time. He could feel how different the atmosphere was compared to his own time, where Voldmort was a hated, shadowy memory, but quite gone (or so people thought). He put it down to Voldemort's ever increasing power and presence in the wizarding world. He'd discovered, much to his surprise, that the great majority of the pupils in the school, especially those from wizarding families, had suffered losses.  
  
* * * * * *  
  
To the Marauders' disgust, James seemed deliriously happy most of the time now. The only time he sobered a bit was for Quidditch matches, which he was under a lot of pressure to do well in now that Lily was watching him. This made him impossible to be around, not that he seemed to care since he was in a daze most of the time anyway.  
  
One night, a few weeks later, Harry woke up from a nightmare to find himself alone. He wouldn't have worried if one bed was empty, but all four of the boys were gone. Usually, one of them would have heard him muttering in his sleep, woken him and helped him to calm down, but the dormitory was completely deserted - the other four beds didn't look as if they'd been slept in at all.  
  
Feeling very indignant at being left out of whatever prank they were doing, Harry sat up in bed and put on his glasses, ready to confront them when they came in. Suddenly, he had a moment of inspiration. He rummaged hurriedly in Remus's rather untidy trunk, knowing his friend wouldn't mind, and brought out a lunar calendar, a must for all Astronomy students. There it was, November 17th, full moon.  
  
All of Harry's resentment vanished as if it had never been. He should have known really, because he knew that Remus was a werewolf. He'd seen Remus transform once before, and it had not been a pleasant experience for any of them. Harry resolved to wait up for them, as he had intended to, but not to confront them. He wanted to see if there was anything that he could do himself to help them.  
  
Harry had woken up at approximately three o'clock, and it was five o'clock before they staggered in. More precisely, Harry watched the door swing open as they lurched in, then saw them appear from under the Invisibility Cloak. He stirred from his doze, and stared at them in horror. Remus in particular looked as though he'd been dragged through hell and back - he was bruised all over and had scratches covering his already pale face. Harry took one look at them all, and changed his mind about everything he'd been planning to say.  
  
"Tell me about it later," he said gently. "James, Sirius, Peter - you'd go to bed now. You look whacked. Remus, do you want a hand? I do a pretty decent healing charm. It looks to me as if you need it, far more than the others."  
"Thanks Harry," his friend agreed, too tired to be suspicious. His friends, always very protective, looked at Harry warily as they got into bed. Without letting them see, he cast deep sleep charms on them as soon as they looked comfortable. Even if he wouldn't, they would at least get the equivalent of eight hours normal sleep. Once Remus had been fixed up as best as they could manage, he toppled with relief back onto his own bed and went out like a light himself.  
  
Even having helped them, Harry was still the first one up. This might have been because he was very keen that they didn't slip out and avoid his questions. He knew where they'd been, but they didn't know he knew and probably wouldn't want to tell him. He got out of bed, shut the door firmly, dressed and sat on his bed to wait for the others. When at last they were all ready, they sat there, looking uncomfortably at each other. James looked at Remus, who nodded, almost imperceptibly. Only then did he speak.  
"We probably should have told you, its your right to know, but we were worried. You're one of us now, after all. Remus is a werewolf. He leaves school through a secret passage, so he changes where no one can get hurt. Dumbledore knows, of course. We go with him - Dumbledore doesn't know that though - and he can't hurt us because we're Animagi, so we're all animals when he's dangerous and werewolves don't harm animals."  
"I know," Harry said, feeling very glad that they'd told him. "And I don't mind, so don't look so worried Remus. You're hardly going to kill me when you're out there and I'm here, are you? Anyway, you're perfectly safe the rest of the time."  
"How do you know?" Peter asked curiously, sure that they'd taken all of the necessary precautions so that they wouldn't be found out by anyone.  
"That would be telling," Harry said evasively, but he glanced meaningfully at James. "Say, can you teach me to become an Animagus? What would I be?"  
  
It was perfect truth that the Animagi fascinated him. Even since he'd found out about his dad being an Animagus, he had secretly wished to become one himself, he didn't care what animal. James and Sirius looked each other dubiously.  
"Well, okay, you can try," Sirius said doubtfully. "But I'll warn you that its really hard work, took us a few years to learn. We won't know what you'll be until you finally manage it, so no one can answer that question. One of us can practice with you every night between eight and nine in the dormitory. That suit, you lot? I don't mind at all, ought to be fun."  
"Of course, Padfoot. You're in, Harry. Now you can become a proper Marauder," James said, bearing a smirk identical to the one on his son's face. The school would no longer be safe, or at least, it would be even less peaceful (if it could be called peaceful before) now. 


	12. Chapter 11

A/N: Wow, that was a really quick response. By the way, when I said 80 reviews, I meant get up to eighty, not 80 new ones. Sorry it took a while, but I wasn't expecting to get them so fast! Let's say get up to reviews 100 this time, that's only another 14. Just think, 100 nice reviews, its hard to imagine, but of course I couldn't have done it without you, so thanks for being such brilliant readers. Now, enjoy, and as always, please R+R!  
  
Life at Hogwarts continued much as it always had for the Marauders in the next few weeks. Quidditch practice and training, homework (unfortunately) and Harry's Animagus lessons took up almost all of their time outside lessons. There were definite downsides to moving up the school, one of the more major ones being an increased workload. Consequently, it was only when the Christmas holidays arrived at last that they had time to set up pranks.  
  
They were all staying over the holidays. Remus's family was scared stiff about his transforming anywhere near them, although they were perfectly supportive while he was over 100 miles away at school. Sirius had been all but disowned - he'd run away from home a few months ago and, apart from a single Howler from his mother, had received no further contact. James was very reluctant to go back to the scene of his parents' murder, at least until the summer. Harry, of course, had nowhere to go in this time, and Peter just stayed to be with them, and not get left out of any pranks.  
  
With so much time on their hands after lessons stopped and their holiday assignments had been completed, they had decided to attempt a very complex prank, one of the most complicated they'd ever done. This came in the form of an intricate set of charms, strategically placed where they would be easily triggered by unsuspecting students.  
  
At Hogwarts, there were some stairs that seemed to have minds of their own already. No one knew why, but by the time a student's first year ended, it was all but automatic for them to jump them. A few, Peter Pettigrew for example, took a bit longer. Knowing this, the Marauders had targeted the stairs on either side of these, as they were ones that everyone would have to stand on.  
  
They were charmed to do things like act like cement, and hold their victim for five minutes, or call out the names of people they had crushes on (secret or not) or something else equally funny and unpleasant. This took them all of their holidays to complete. Just to be certain, they had added the locations of every trap to the Marauders' Map as well as committing them to memory. They had no objection to other people being targeted, but some reservations about triggering their own tricks. It was bad for their reputation, for one thing.  
  
By the time school was due to start again, all of the other students and teachers that had stayed over the holidays were certain that something was up, although no one had any idea what. The Marauders weren't stupid enough to activate the charms until everyone was back - they'd be wasted on the teachers. As for the Marauders themselves, they were in a state of hyperactive excitement.  
  
On the first day of the new term, the Marauders met Lily in the Entrance Hall. If she was surprised to see them, she gave no sign of it. Maybe James had tipped her off.  
"Pray allow us to escort you upstairs, fair lady," James said, with an overly extravagant bow. The grin on his face somewhat decreased the effect, but it was still funny. "I, naturally, and my entourage, are at your service." The 'entourage' wasn't too pleased with this speech, and Sirius elbowed James rather hard, but they played along when Lily smiled back and replied,  
"Very well, sir knight. You can carry my trunk up to the dorm for me, if you're so keen."  
"See to it, Harry, will you?" Harry rolled his eyes and nodded. He looked at the trunk, tried to envisage climbing the stairs with it and muttered,  
"Wingardium Leviosa!" Then he jogged quickly after the others to catch up, the trunk soaring after him. He carefully deflected the hexes sent his way by irate students who had to dodge it quickly or risk being flattened.  
  
On the way upstairs, James was levitating Lily lightly over the larger jumps, explaining what each stair would do as he did so. When she protested halfheartedly that she was perfectly capable of doing it herself, he told her smugly that she didn't know where it was required.  
  
One time, just to demonstrate that he really was telling the truth, he deliberately stepped onto one of them. At this point he was desperately hoping that he hadn't lost count on the way. Being stuck for five minutes wouldn't be particularly convenient at this time, especially with Lily looking on.  
"James Potter loves Lily Evans!" the stairs sung out loudly and cheerfully. People swung around to look. James flushed scarlet and walked out in front of the others for a while, until his face resumed its normal colour and he found he could look his girlfriend safely in the eyes again.  
  
When they finally reached the Gryffindor tower and climbed in, Remus reassured Lily,  
"There's nothing at all to worry about in here, we decided we liked being popular. The Slytherins might have a few problems, but Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff common rooms and dormitories are completely free of pranks."  
"Remus, you forgot," James said reproachfully. "Lily, we're at your service whenever you want us. I'd recommend that you take us with you when you leave here, because there are an awful lot of stairs that you don't want to step on."  
  
All over the school, the renowned little white 'M's were appearing as charms were triggered. Most people laughed it off after being caught for the first few times, but some immediately relegated the Marauders to the very bottom of their list of acquaintances. Needless to say, most of these were Slytherins or older students who were very much on their dignity at all times.  
  
The teachers, not spared any of the embarrassment, were learning fast too. Most of them had to completely change their normal routes around the school. A good number favoured using the older ways, the formerly unused back staircases that the Marauders had somehow overlooked. Perhaps this was to leave people an escape route if they were bright enough to find it, or maybe they'd simply been overlooked.  
  
Since the pranks were dismissed by Dumbledore as 'Seasonal High Spirits', no one was punished. He'd been chuckling merrily all Christmas as he watched them set it up, although none of the boys knew that. After a fortnight, the charms vanished as if they'd never been, and the Marauders bent their attentions towards new things, much to the relief of the student and teacher populations.  
  
A/N: Now, you know the score. I've put this lovely chapter up for you, so you press the nice purple box and give me a review for it. Think of it as payment, but dirt cheap compared to a proper book. 


	13. Chapter 12

A/N: I knew you could do it. As of the last time I checked, exactly 100 reviews!!!! As promised, here's the next chapter, and I'd like 120 this time, only twenty more. Also, since someone didn't appear sure in their review, I'd be curious to hear your guesses as to whether I'm a boy or a girl, say in your review if you have a guess. If you know me, don't bother cos it'll give the game away for everyone else. I might tell you in another few chapters, if I get a good enough response. Don't worry, its just mild curiousity, I haven't finally lost it (I think).  
  
St Valentine's Day, February the fourteenth, was the next major event in the Marauders' collective calendar. James was looking forward to his next major date with the lovely Lily Evans. The others, without his knowledge and for lack of anything else to do, were planning a set of entertainments for the whole school.  
  
It was six o'clock in the morning when James finally decided that he couldn't sleep another moment in anticipation of the day to come and got out of bed.  
"What do you want?" Harry said sluggishly, as the boy landed on the floor with a resounding thud. "It's far too early for us to get up, isn't it?"  
"I don't know which of my dress robes to wear, Harry," James whined. "Do you think she'd like the green, the black or the red. I like the black, but do you think it looks too Slytherin. The red's Gryffindor but. . ."  
"Oh shut your mouth James," Sirius groaned. "Wear green, it'll match her eyes. Now, can we please sleep? Anything more and I'll do Perificalus Totalus on you, and leave you hear all day without telling Lily it's my fault."  
"Sorry Sirius," his friend said quickly. "I'll go down to the common room now if you're being this grouchy. Who knows, Lily might be there!" He bounded out. Harry groaned. Enthusiasm at this time in the morning was too unreal!  
"Not bloody likely at this time of night," Sirius muttered darkly after his departing back. Then he blinked until his eyes would stay open. "Oh damn it, James is right - it's Valentine's Day. Get up, you three - we've got stuff to do! Harry! Wake up!"  
  
Harry, just dozing off again, rolled out of bed with a start and landed with a crash on the floor. He winced, rubbed his eyes and opened them, glaring at Sirius.  
  
Remus and Peter had somehow managed to sleep through all of this. Harry looked at Sirius. Sirius looked at Harry. Identical smirks were playing at their lips. Wordlessly, Harry scooped up his wand and conjured a wet sponge above Remus's head. Sirius, with much the same idea floating in the depths of his mind, had conjured lumps of ice, which he was slowly lowering onto Peter's neck. Harry magically squeezed the sponge and Remus shot out of bed with a start.  
"What did you do that for, Harry? I was just getting up anyway, without your help."  
"Didn't look like it. Oh Sirius, can't you even manage to get Peter up?"  
"Boy sleeps like a log," Sirius grunted. "That's it, I'm really going for it now."  
  
Sirius, very frustrated by this point, poked the ice cubes down inside the back of his pajamas with the end of his wand.  
"Sirius!" Peter squealed. "Get it out! It's February, for pity's sake. James wouldn't have done that."  
"Yes he would. Rise and shine Petey, we've got work to do today. As you just observed so accurately, it is February, after all. Everyone knows what he's meant to be doing? Great, let's go. Remus, will you help Wormtail before dragging him off to the kitchens? It would be such a shame for him to be walking around with ice cubes down his back, and I made them so they wouldn't melt."  
"Sure."  
  
Harry was dressed by this time, and ran down past James in the common room towards the Great Hall. His dad, glanced curiously after him, but thought no more about it when he remembered that getting into rows on Valentine's Day wouldn't be the best way to impress his date. Sirius had dashed off towards the Owlery, and Remus dragged Peter out a few minutes later in the direction of the kitchens, the smaller boy protesting vigorously against this treatment.  
  
Harry had just finished an extremely complex charm as the first few people began to enter the hall for breakfast, most yawning but determined to either impress their dates or avoid the dating couples. With a flourish, he activated it, looking at his beautiful display proudly.  
  
A choir of cherus, with doves above them, was singing love songs that Sirius had found in the library. They'd persuaded James to sing one to Lily once, but after that one experience he'd been made to promise never to sing again in their presence. A male angel, who looked remarkably like the mindless Professor Lockhart before his memory charm went wrong, conducted them with a number of meaningless flourishes of a bendy baton. He'd decided it would be too dangerous to provide him with a real one.  
  
Underneath the display, on a large pale pink banner, read the words,  
  
'This performance comes with the compliments and good wishes of the Marauders for a productive and enjoyable day.'  
  
Sirius came in himself a moment later, looking satisfied and twirling his wand absently.  
"All done," he said smugly. "Didn't take too long, and I added some flourishes on top of our original idea. Yours sounds good so far, but the third kid from the right is slightly flat."  
  
"What?"  
"Only kidding. Seen Peter and Remus yet?"  
"No, but I suppose they have more to do than either of us. We eat a considerable amount of food, even for breakfast. Besides, it will have taken some of Remus's time for him to drag Peter bodily out of bed and downstairs."  
"There are two of them," Sirius pointed out. "And he did deserve it. They've only got five minutes to finish off in, so they'd better hurry up. Ah, there's Marjorie. I'd better go and say hello to her, or she'll think I've forgotten our date." Harry grinned at his departing back - Sirius's crush on fifth year Marjorie was almost as major as the famous one that James had on Lily, just a lot less obvious.  
  
Remus and Peter dashed in themselves just as the food appeared on the table, looking as though they'd sprinted all the way, which, in fact, they had. They appeared far more drained than Sirius had. Harry had to admit that they'd done a good job, mostly Remus's work probably. The food looked somewhat different from their usual breakfast fare, although he himself knew that actually there were just illusion charms on most of it. Everything was red or pink, including the fruit, milk, cereal, toast and even the honey. Pink loaves of bread were speckled with little red hearts, and Remus had even found the time to transfigure the spoons so that they too were heart shaped as well.  
"Wow!" Harry exclaimed, taking it all in. "That's brilliant!"  
"It wasn't so hard," Remus said carelessly. "Sirius wins the bet by the way. The house elves were overjoyed that we were so interested by the food, they didn't care at all that we were modifying it a bit. Besides, nothing harmful in it."  
"Where's Sirius?" Peter asked.  
"With Marjorie, where else? I guess James and Lily are still up snogging in the common room if their past behavior's anything to go on. They'll have to hurry up, the post will come soon."  
  
James appeared a few seconds later, looking totally star-struck and holding Lily's hand tightly. They took seats next to each other. Harry snickered, but felt glad all the same for about the hundredth time that he'd got to know them at last, despite the time problem.  
  
The meal ended without further incident, and everyone waited impatiently for the post to arrive. Harry groaned loudly, did he have to do everything for himself? He got up, under the curious glances of all of the single people at the Gryffindor table, walked down the table and prodded Sirius roughly.  
"Harry! I was just coming to it," he exclaimed defensively, flicking his wand. "Push off, this is a private conversation, or it was until you came along!" Harry sighed, muttering under his breath about lovesick incompetents, and went back to join Remus and Peter.  
  
A troop of little cherubs flew in, in a little throng. Their harps appeared to have been discarded in favor of mail bags, and they flew around happily, distributing the cards.  
  
Every girl in the school had received a card from the Marauders. Some of the other boys, especially the Slytherins, looked offended, but most of the girls looked pleased. Harry noticed that the younger ones in particular were overjoyed, since most of the boys their age appeared to be very shy about sending cards to girls. Needless to say, most of the boys had got a few, and looked very embarrassed about it.  
  
Harry couldn't really care less what the Slytherins thought. Sirius had insisted that they handwrite every single card, and, even divided between the four of them, that still left a considerable amount. Harry himself had insisted that they also did cards for all the female members of staff - another job that needed doing. They had also sent Professor Dumbledore one, just so he didn't feel left out.  
  
When everyone seemed done, and the little postmen had flown out again, the Headmaster stood up.  
"Happy Valentine's Day to you all. I'd like to thank those of you who arranged this lovely surprise for us and to remind everyone here that all years have today as a holiday. Anyone above third year who has permission from their parents may go to Hogsmead. I hope you all have wonderful days!"  
"A holiday?" Remus murmured incredulously. "For Valentine's Day?"  
"Just think what we can do," Harry thought blissfully. They sat there for a moment before getting sorted to banish their spells.  
  
"Ah, Mr Jamieson," Professor Dumbledore said suddenly from beside Harry. He jumped, having been certain that the teacher had already left. "Thank you for your card, I shall treasure it, I'm sure. I wondered if it might have been you to arrange this, it has a lighter touch than young Mr Black can manage. Tell me, who organized our postmen today?"  
"Sirius, sir."  
"That would explain their enthusiasm. Which means that we have Mr Lupin and Mr Pettigrew to thank for the food then, correct? I assume that young Potter is, ah, busy today. A most seasonal idea, ten points to Gryffindor."  
  
Harry's eyes were drawn automatically to the great hourglasses standing at the end of the hall, showing the house points. A stream of crystals dropped into Gryffindor's. Checking quickly, Harry noted that this new addition put them into the lead, overtaking Slytherin house by about five points.  
"Thanks Professr!"  
"Off you go then, young man. Have some fun." They left, Harry wondering exactly what Dumbledore had meant by fun. He hoped it hadn't been a suggestion that he should get a girlfriend. Dating a kid from his parent's generation was just gross!  
  
Unfortunately it was a rather depressed group that trouped around Hogsmeade that day. Minus both James Potter and Sirius Black, they weren't likely to get into any trouble at all. How boring! 


	14. Chapter 13

A/N: Okay you guys, sorry this took so long and that its so short, but I've had a German exchange staying with me for ten days, and that's meant pretty much zilch fanfic for me. Thanks for all your reviews, I know I set you a stiff target, and I'm going to be posting a few more chapters this week probably in all of my stories cos its gonna be half term, so I'll have time to type them all. Well, after your long wait, here it is. Enjoy!  
  
"I really hate that cat" Sirius growled one afternoon as he stormed into the Gryffindor common room and threw his bag violently into the wall, where it slithered down to join his friends' in an untidy heap on the floor.  
  
James sighed, looking up at his friend from his complicated Defense Against the Dark Arts essay. This year, his friend's outbursts of emotion had started to seem very childish, especially compared to Harry's quiet determination and Remus's conscientiousness.  
  
Did he really want to know what had set off this one? It was probably just another temper tantrum, but then again, this might be the first one with serious consequences.  
"What is it this time?" James asked, deciding it was better to know, so then he could try his best to restrain Sirius from doing something they'd both regret.  
  
Sirius looked over at him, only just noticing that he was sitting there. He was scowling, his black eyebrows shadowing his dark eyes and his face was flushed.  
"All I was doing was looking for Professor Carpenter to ask her about my Herbology essay. It wasn't after curfew, then anyway, it is now. I had the Map out to help, but that cat saw me and Filch came and confiscated it! I wasn't doing anything wrong except being a good student!"  
"Did you wipe it? If they find out what we've been doing, or worse about Harry. . ."  
"I'm hardly stupid, Prongs!" James groaned inwardly; it was going to be one of those times when Sirius wouldn't listen to anyone.  
"Then what the hell do you expect me to do about it? I'm not making another map now - it took months and we've memorized everything on it anyway."  
"I want us to HEX THAT DAMN CAT!!!! Turn it green, for all I care, but just do something to teach it a lesson. I don't care about being caught out of hours, but when I'm allowed to be out, it's too much, far too much!"  
"I'll find the others," James agreed reluctantly, knowing that the only possible way to calm Sirius down when he was in this mood would be to do something about it.  
  
They were working at their Transfiguration essays and refused to do anything else until they finished. James and Sirius supposedly had to do them too, but they hadn't started yet and couldn't' care less now that they had a prank in hand. Anyway, Defense Against the Dark Arts fitted in much higher on their agenda.  
"Just us then," James said, going smoothly into Marauder mode. "Point 1 is that we can't be seen. If the cat sees us, it'll tell Filch and we'll get detention, you know how much he hates us. Point 2 - it can't be too obvious to Filch either, or he'll just blame us, with or without evidence."  
"Okay, okay," Sirius agreed, looking visibly calmer already. "I get the message. I won't turn the damn animal green. I'll. . . I'll . . . fix a charm to its tail, so that she hears a dog barking just behind her whenever she sees Filch coming. That'll stop them in their tracks for a while."  
"Great idea, so you won't be needing me at all then, will you? I mean, not a lot more that I can do. You can take my Invisibility Cloak and go and do it now, if you want. As soon as you get back, you can try and get Moony's Transfiguration essay off him and start working on it."  
  
Sirius grinned, knowing how often he'd had to borrow his friends' work the night before work was due in.  
"Thanks Prongs," he said, and James watched as he swirled the cloak theatrically around him and vanished.  
  
That was Sirius's main problem, James thought sadly. If he learned to stop and control his emotions, who knew what he could achieve. Harry, on the other hand, controlled his far too well. Sometimes it was like looking at a brick wall for all the information it gave you.  
  
The next time James saw Filch's cat, it was tearing desperately down the corridors without a thought for anyone else, as though a whole pack of about fifty rabid dogs was after it.  
  
A/N: You've had the chapter, now R+R? 


	15. Chapter 14

A/N: hey, I knew you deserved another chapter, so here it is, just a few days after the last one, and that's even with me being overworked. Of course, I'm absolutely mad to be posting, I dunno, five? stories at once, but still. This ones twice as long as my usual ones, so I deserve lots of nice reviews, right? Now enjoy!  
  
"Today's lesson," Professor Serdaigle announced seriously to the sixth year Defense Against the Dark Arts NEWT class, "is on the Unforgivable Curses. Professor Dumbledore feels that it is essential that you know what they're like and every preventive measure known to us because he knows full well that You Know Who uses them frequently and without mercy on his victims. Later on in this lesson, its good that we have the whole afternoon for this because I don't want to have to repeat it, I will cast on each and every one of you the Imperius curse for you to experience."  
"Please Professor," Lily Evans said quietly, raising her hand. "But isn't that illegal?"  
"Yes, absolutely, but I have been given a special permit for the use of the Imperius curse for the duration of this lesson. That should tell you how important it is for you to learn, since the Ministry, myself and the Headmaster are all in complete accord with each other. In a class of ten, with only one under the Imperius at any one time, it should be perfectly safe, even if I did have cruel tendencies. I am sure that you could disable me and my victim within minutes should that proves necessary. Now, we'll start at the beginning. What are the Unforgivable Curses?"  
  
The ten students looked at each other in anticipation. That Professor Serdaigle, normally a fun, relaxed teacher, was in this mood had been interpreted by them all as an indication of how serious this lesson was going to be. All of them had an idea, but no one wanted to be first to raise their hand. At last, Lily Evans's arm rose slowly and shakily above her head.  
"Miss Evans?"  
"They're the curses that are so horrible they've been banned in every form and in any circumstance. There is no excuse for using them at all. If you do use them, you get an automatic and irreversible life sentence in Azkaban without a trial with no Appeal possible under wizarding law."  
"Very good, Miss Evans. That is an excellent definition. Now, what are the three curses? Mr Black?"  
"The Imperius Curse," Sirius said, looking intently at the young teacher, surprisingly focussed. Harry had always considered him as laid back in everything in this younger form; this was obviously not always the case.  
"Yes, that's one. Rumor has it that You Know Who has many wizards and witches controlled under this curse. Deemed by many the least significant of the three because it causes no injury, I would disagree and say that it is the worst. It takes away your free will and forces you to obey the every command of the caster, whatever they are and whoever this wizard may be. I personally would rather have a quick death under the third curse or be tortured myself than suffer as I watched myself torturing my own family, unable to stop myself however much I wish to. Most of you would no doubt agree with me. It is possible for you to fight this curse, although it is difficult, and it is something that it is vital you learn if humanly possible. Another curse please, Mr Jamieson?"  
"Cruciatus," Harry said, deciding to follow the normal 'scale' on which the three were ranked.  
"The pain giving curse," Professor Serdaigle said softly, "Giving the most intense pain that has driven people mad and, in many cases, killed them outright after hours of agony. It is rumored that this too can be fought off, although I've never managed it myself or heard of anyone who can. Mr Potter, the final curse?"  
"Avada Kedavra," James whispered, looking tense.  
  
A hush fell on the already silent room, the atmosphere was suddenly heavy. James knew all too well that that was how his parents had perished. Harry shivered as he looked at the strangely calm, blank face, knowing that his father himself would one day die under the curse with his young wife with following moments afterwards. Professor Serdaigle made a noticeable effort to control himself before attempting to speak again.  
"The death curse. No one has ever survived this (*Harry decided not to correct him on this*). Your only hope, indeed anyone's only hope, is to dodge and hope it misses you. There is no time to defend against it, and no shield will stop it. Take out your quills please and we'll not that down."  
  
They silently wrote down his dictation. Every one among them knew the extreme effects of these curses. Every one of them knew someone who had suffered and probably died under them or who had lost a family member to them. Harry was the only one who could remotely be called relaxed - he'd spent all summer training under Mad Eye Moody, why should he be worried?  
  
At last, the bell rang once, signaling the end of the first half of the afternoon lesson. Very slowly, very apprehensively, they put down their quills and put their parchment neatly away in their bags. Then they sat up behind their desks, not looking at each other, just staring at the teacher in the hope of relief.  
  
It began.  
  
"Now," said Professor Serdaigle," I'm going to ask each of you in turn to come up to the front, where I will place you under the Imperius curse. I want you to try your best to overcome it, but I warn you now that very few wizards can, particularly on their first attempts. We'll go down the register, so Mr Black, would you please come over."  
  
Sirius pushed back his chair and very slowly, very reluctantly walked up to the front.  
"Imperio!"  
  
His normally expressive face went blank and he dropped down onto all fours, crawling very slowly around the room on his hands and knees until he cam to James. Very, very slowly he licked his friend's hand. Then Professor Serdaigle lifted the curse, and Sirius stood up, grimacing in disgust.  
"When did you last wash your hands, James?"  
  
The class laughed, some of the tension leaking away from them. The teacher smiled.  
"Well done Mr Black, I could see that you were fighting it hard. You managed to slow it down considerably, always a good sign. By the end of this year, you'll be able to free yourself of it in moments. Miss Bones?"  
  
Mary Bones, and Lily Evans who came after her, showed no signs of any resistance at all and performed their assigned tasks without any hint of reluctance.  
"Mr Jamieson. Harry walked up confidently, almost jauntily. He'd been able to do this since he was fourteen years old, after all. He wasn't afraid in the slightest.  
"Imperio!"  
//Swim// a voice whispered in Harry's head. He smiled faintly and the class stared at him, intent on not missing anything. //SWIM// it insisted. He shook his head and more than one of his fellow classmates gasped.  
"Sorry Professor, quite impossible with no water," he explained. The rest of the class stared at him in amazement, while Professor Serdaigle looked at him with growing respect.  
"Can you describe to us how that felt, Mr Jamieson, since you were so successful?"  
"It felt peaceful, as if it was the right thing to do. Then it was like a voice in my head, telling me to do it. I just decided that it was stupid and didn't."  
"An excellent description, ten points to Gryffindor. However, it takes a very strong will to deny the 'voice' as you call it. Mr Black, would you go along with that description or is there something that you'd like to add?"  
"It was peaceful, he'd right. It was kind of like really calm music. It felt to me like I was having an argument in my head, but I seemed to be losing."  
"Good point, an argument. Some people won't even feel that. Mr Lupin, would you come up now? You can sit down now, Mr Jamieson, congratulations."  
  
Remus went up looking considerably more confidant having seen Harry shake it off so successfully, but he sang the national anthem with great enthusiasm. Peter walked on his hands around the room, although he swore afterwards that he'd never even managed a simple cartwheel before.  
  
James Potter, who told them later that he'd been told to bow to Snape, fell on his face in an attempt to prevent himself from obeying, and Professor Serdaigle was as pleased with him as he had been with Sirius. Snape however, despite his known affinity for Dark Magic, was an obedient zombie under its effect. The class was very relieved when everyone had been and the ordeal was over. While it had been funny to watch, it was creepy in the extreme.  
  
There was a moment's uncertainty, then Snape raised his hand boldly and asked,  
"Sir, aren't you going to show us the Cruciatus Curse as well?"  
"Are you seriously suggesting, Mr Snape, that I cast the Cruciatus Curse on a student?"  
"I wouldn't mind," Harry said bravely. He felt it was much better that they should all see someone under that curse as well and he'd already spent most of his summer suffering under the after effects. If anyone could deal with it, it was him.  
"Really, I couldn't," the teacher stuttered, completely taken aback.  
  
Snape had no such doubts.  
"Crucio!" he yelled, pointing his wand at Harry with an expression remotely resembling glee. Harry gritted his teeth. He could do this. It was just like with Moody. . . A cold wave went through him and he felt a twinge of pain in his hand. He concentrated still harder. The pain vanished completely. Snape was staring at him. So was everyone else in the room.  
"Twenty points from Slytherin, Snape, and detention for a week!" Professor Serdaigle snapped after a moment's pause. "Mr Jamieson, come outside."  
  
Harry stood up and followed him out of the room, confidant he could deal with anything to come up.  
"Yes Professor?"  
"Harry you've experienced those curses before, haven't you?"  
"Yes," he replied boldly, deciding it would be worthless to try and conceal it. He stuck strictly to the truth. "I did it in my fourth year at my old school and my teacher worked on it hard with me all of last summer holidays."  
"Has it ever been cast on you by anyone other than your teacher?"  
"Yes, Professor. You Know Who cast it on me at the end of my fourth year, when he attacked me."  
"Congratulations on surviving, not many have. I won't press you for any details." "My godfather was killed."  
  
There was an uncomfortable pause.  
"I'm sorry for that. Are you finding this class disturbing for you?"  
"No Professor, I think its good that people learn about them. If you have a Pensieve, I'm happy to put my memory of the first time I had Cruciatus done on me in it. That was before I learned to fight it off, and so long as I don't have to see it, I don't mind."  
"That's generous of you. It's always best to learn from experience, and this is a way of doing it without casting the curse. Fifty points to Gryffindor for coping so well with Snape's curse. Go up to Professor Dumbledore's office, and ask if he would bring down his Pensieve for our use during this lesson."  
"Yes sir."  
  
Harry walked off, guessed the password correctly and went in. Professor Dumbledore quickly agreed, after ensuring that Harry knew exactly what he was doing. Then, he supervised Harry as he focussed on just the moment when the curse was on him and put it into the misty bowl. He couldn't, of course, reveal anything on either side of it. Professor Dumbledore submerged himself in the memory, and came out looking tense.  
"That's the correct memory, I'm sure, Jamieson," he said at last. "I'll bring it down myself, and supervise its use. I wouldn't want the students to see that memory completely unsupervised. It was bad enough for me."  
  
He walked off, and Harry looked back to see the Pensieve floating precariously along behind them. Back in the classroom, the others cautiously experienced the memory while Harry watched stolidly, determined not to show any emotion about it. Lily returned to herself looking very pale and hugged Harry, much to his surprise. She never showed her feelings to that extent.  
"I'm so sorry for you, that must have been awful! You looked so young!"  
"I was fourteen, but I'm over it now." "Did you used to wear glasses? You looked really like James does."  
"Well, yeah, I did, but I don't need to anymore."  
"It's possible we're cousins, Lily," James said, interrupting, much to Harry's relief. "Mine is quite a big family, and I know I have lots of distant cousins I've never even heard of." 


	16. Chapter 15

A/N: Here's the next chapter. Just one point this time: a lot of you thought I was too easy on Snape last chapter. Now that I think about it, I probably was, but Professor Serdaigle (does anyone other than Sasi know where I got the name from?) is a very easy going teacher and he was too surprised to do much when it happened. Further punishment from Dumbledore probably did follow, like a formal warning, but I haven't documented it in the story itself. I really welcome all of your comments though, cos they help me to improve. That means that it helps you to get better fics if it helps me to write them - so REVIEW PLEASE!!!!  
  
"Harry!" Lily called from the portrait hole of the Gryffindor common room. Harry, sitting in a corner hurriedly doing his Potions essay, looked up and waved to her. She came over, stepping anxiously from one foot to the other. "Have you seen James Potter anywhere? Is he with the others?" Harry thought hard for a moment, running mentally back over his schedule.  
"No, not since Transfiguration anyway, and we have that with you. Why do you ask? Is he in trouble with someone?"  
"He said he'd meet me here about five minutes ago. Normal he's always on time for a date, usually early, actually. I wondered if anything might have happened to him, if he'd got detention perhaps. He gets it often enough."  
"He's not with any of us," Harry said confidently. "The others are all over there. Do you want me to have a look for him? Its possible he's just forgotten."  
"Not James - not a date, at any rate."  
"I'll look then."  
"Thanks, can I help at all?  
"Sure."  
  
Harry shoved his things back into his bag, throwing it carelessly over against the wall, out of the way of everyone else. He pulled his wand from the back pocket of the jeans he was wearing under his robes - he couldn't care less about Moody's 'elementary wand safety'.  
"Quaero James!" he said firmly, holding it out and balancing it perfectly in mid air. They watched as it spun around madly. Eventually, it stopped, pointing downwards slightly to the north. "He's down from here then, come on Evans."  
  
They pounded down a flight of stairs, that thankfully kept going the right way for once, and repeated the spell. After checking their result, they continued down again. Here the wand remained horizontal, pointed directly towards what Harry at least knew was the entrance to the Slytherin common room.  
"Uh oh," Harry said, immediately worried.  
"He won't just be pranking them?"  
"Not at this time and not without telling any of us. Its one of the first rules - you need someone to bail you out if you need it. I'll call the others, there's no way we can take on all of the Slytherins by ourselves. Accio Sirius! Accio Peter! Accio Remus!"  
  
The three boys came charging down a few seconds later, towed frantically by their wands. At last they skidded to a stop, panting. Sirius glared at Harry.  
"There are far more comfortable ways of calling us," he snapped irritably. "What is it? It had better be good, cos my Charms essay was due half and hour ago."  
"James is in there," Harry said, not getting at all angry, pointing towards the glowering portrait. Sirius became deadly serious at once and Harry continued. "I wasn't about to go in there with just Lily, she might have got hurt."  
"I'm perfectly capable of looking after myself, thank you Harry Jamiesion!"  
"I know, but you're not used to the same sort of things that I am and two against the whole of Slytherin is not good odds. Peter, will you try to get the Dark Knight to let us in? He likes you much better than he likes the rest of us."  
  
Peter nodded and went over to talk to the portrait, looking grim but proud and determined at being given such an important task. After what seemed like an age to Harry and the others, he beckoned them over to the entrance.  
"He doesn't like us coming in at all, but he does want us to get James out. His opinion is that the Slytherin common room is no place for a Gryffindor under any circumstances and that they were wrong to take him there. He didn't comment about Slytherins in the Gryffindor common room."  
"Well done Peter," Harry said encouraging. "Just stick to the subject, remember that the longer we take, the more harm might be done to James. And thank you for your assistance, Sir Knight. Now, first thing is to get James out of there and up to Madam Pomfrey if necessary. Go for the Slytherins only to achieve that, don't aim to hex them or hurt them unless they attack first. We don't want to ruin our good reputation with the Knight for this, do we? Ready everyone?"  
  
They raised their wands and crept silently through the now open portrait hole. It did not look good. James had been slammed roughly up against the opposite wall, bound by heavy iron chains that were not part of the usual décor and had probably been conjured on the spot by one of the older boys. A crowd that appeared to include every one of the Slytherin boys and a good number of the girls had gathered around him.  
  
If James noticed his friends' presence at all, indeed if he was in any condition to notice them, he gave no sign of it. Blood was oozing slowly from a deep cut on his forehead, and one eye was starting to swell and go puffy.  
"Liberato!" shouted Harry through the noise and the chains snapped open. James toppled forwards. The Slytherins spun round, surprised by the largely unfamiliar voice. The Gryffindors let off a series of harmless curses, jinxes and hexes so that Peter and Lily were able to run in and help James out in the confusion.  
  
As soon as he was safely out, Sirius, Harry and Remus retreated slowly, then ran from the common room, pushing the portrait firmly shut behind him. Remus stayed there holding it while the others gathered around James.  
  
Sirius and Harry, the two tallest and strongest of them since James was out of action, picked up their friend and carried him between them to the hospital wing, since he appeared to be unconscious. The others followed on anxiously.  
"The Slytherins were picking on him, Madam Pomfrey!" Sirius retorted glibly, answering the matron's question. He looked righteously outraged and angry. This was probably out of practice, although at least he was telling the truth this time. "We had to go and get him out, we're his friends and we couldn't just leave him there being beaten up, could we?"  
"You know what the Headmaster has to say about fighting, young man," she said sternly. Obviously she knew the Marauders' reputation all too well.  
"We didn't fight them except in self-defense. Ask the Dark Knight, he saw us. He was the one that let us in to get James, after all, so he believes us."  
"You can be sure that I'll be telling Professor Dumbledore about this anyway. I'm half considering keeping you in the hospital wing tonight, Potter."  
  
James, who'd come around quickly once rescued, looked horror struck at the very idea.  
"Oh please," he protested. "I'm fine, really I am. It doesn't hurt at all, and I'm sure it would be a bother for you to have me here all night when I don't need to stay really. . ."  
"Hmm," Madam Pomfrey said somewhat dubiously, but then she had quite enough to deal with considering the measles outbreak among the first years - it seemed to be the exception to the rule that Muggle diseases don't affect wizards. The infirmary beds were all full, in fact. "Well, all right, but you have to come back tomorrow and I'll change your dressings.  
  
James mumbled something that was probably agreement and limped back to join the others.  
"Thank you Lily," he said, eyes almost glowing, cheeks definitely glowing. "If it wasn't for you, I'd still be there."  
"Are you sure you're okay?" his girlfriend asked anxiously, no more deceived than the nurse. "You don't look it."  
"I am, I am."  
"Anyway, don't be so silly James. All that I did was notice that you were missing. It was Harry that organized everything else and told us what to do."  
"Harry said it was you that got him going and I'm eternally grateful to you, Wizard's Debt."  
"Not for something like that James!" Lily said, sounding horrified. "How about you give me some Transfiguration coaching this evening, you're far better than any of your friends at it, so they wouldn't have to come along."  
"Okay," he replied, quickly realizing what she was getting at.  
"Come on James," Sirius interrupted; James scowled at him. "What shall we do to pay them back?"  
"Grow up Sirius!" Lily snapped. "You started it. It's getting ridiculous, why hate the Slytherins so much? They aren't that bad, and Severus is okay."  
"Snivellus is most definitely not okay! You know what they did to me when I was Sorted into Gryffindor. It was their fault that I had to run away from home last summer so I didn't have to join the Death Eaters. They've even made my baby brother hate me, and we used to like each other."  
  
Lily sighed, her mouth drooping in the tortured expression that the teachers sometimes used when dealing with a particularly stupid or slow student,  
"You were Sorted into Gryffindor because you're supposedly different from them. You're meant to be noble, remember, and that means forgiving them for what they've done in the past and starting again."  
  
Sirius looked surprised at her unusually stern tone and a bit guilty, but he answered smoothly enough.  
"I'll try, promise I will. I suppose we did ask for it," he conceded, then grinned. "We'll leave you and James to it then, we've got work to do, and I'm sure you'd welcome the privacy. Come on, you guys, we'll go back upstairs."  
  
James flushed a deep red, Lily smiled and the other Marauders laughed as Sirius led them away. 


	17. Chapter 16

A/N: I know the review system isn't working at the moment, so I'm going to give you another chapter anyway, so aren't you lucky? I still want you to keep trying though, cos reviews give you a boost, the surest way of solving writers block that I know. Anyway, enjoy!  
  
It was during that Easter holidays that the serious revision for the end of year exams. Harry and his friends were only in sixth year, so naturally they weren't sitting what the teachers might have described as major exams, but with Lily and Remus encouraging them - or rather standing over them with whips - the Marauders found themselves working much harder than was comfortable.  
  
Harry was doing Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, Potions and Care of Magical Creatures for his NEWT courses, so he had plenty, ie. far too much, revision to do.  
  
Potions, as Harry was beginning to discover, was actually quite interesting, a whole mix match of Herbology, Charms and general Potions. This was probably because this teacher didn't hate his guts like Professor Snape and wasn't constantly aiming to humiliate him. The teacher seemed to like Harry, after all he was quieter than most and more dedicated to his studies. Many of the teachers had noticed his silent determination to cram as much practical knowledge into his head as possible, and independently determined not to mention it. If he had things in his past that were so bad that they had this effect on him, they were certainly not going to re- open old wounds by making him talk about it.  
  
As for his other subjects, well, he was very confident in Defense Against the Dark Arts, he always had been and his training the previous summer had definitely paid off. All of the others, however, were going to take a lot of very serious revision if he wanted to do well.  
  
The whole school had taken on a strange, almost unknown atmosphere of stress and intense, almost desperate concentration. Three Gryffindor fifth years had broken down already under the pressure and so had two seventh years. The casualties were rumored to be even worse in Ravenclaw, where academic achievement was that much more important. Those were the two main exam years, of course, so there was a lot more pressure involved. Even the first years seemed to be working, a totally new development for everyone, and one that the teachers were taking advantage of while it lasted.  
  
A couple of weeks into the summer term, mind reeling with the different potions he had to memorize, Harry threw his textbook across their dormitory, his notes following immediately afterwards and wafting all over the room. The others looked at him in surprise, for Harry to make such an outburst was unknown - it was usually Sirius that gave up, his active mind and body making him incapable of sitting still for any long period of time.  
"I'm sick of this!" he exclaimed, exasperated. "We don't do anything fun any more, just work, work, work from breakfast until we go to bed. There's not even Quidditch at the moment!"  
  
James nodded in understanding, very glad that someone else had voiced his feelings first so that he wouldn't have to take any blame for it.  
"I don't think one evening off revision will make so much difference," he allowed. "After all, you can't concentrate if you try too much. It will do everyone good to laugh for once. Too many people are gloomy at the moment and its making everyone even worse!"  
"I have an idea," Remus told them, putting down his Charms notes and looking over at them.  
"What?" Sirius asked incredulously, always ready to tease his quieter friend. "The Perfect Prefect, Good Boy of the Marauders, making up pranks! Really, what is the world coming to? What would Dumbledore think?" Remus ignored him and explained, going over every part in minute detail. Gradually, the others began to see what he was getting at. They spent the rest of the evening practicing the charm that he'd adapted from his notes on the spot until all of them, even Peter, could do it perfectly all the time.  
  
They had Potions first lesson the next morning, and even though it came first period and they couldn't have a lie in, they were all looking forward to it.  
"In today's lesson," the Potions master began in his careful, precise voice, "You are making a Laughing Potion, that is page sixty three in your textbook. All the ingredients you will need are laid out on the front desk so that you can take them as you need them. This could easily come up in your exam, so I would advise you to take particular care in this class."  
  
The class, consisting of about ten people, opened their textbooks and began, all diligently striving to be perfect and knock another thing off their revision lists. As soon as the Slytherins looked down, James nodded significantly and flicked his wand under the table. Nothing appeared to happen. The class continued working steadily down their lists without incident - there wasn't much that could go wrong with this particular potion, and they were a NEWT class, after all.  
  
Snape raised his hand, and a number of people turned to look at him. Know- it-all Snape, the Potions genius. This might actually be useful for them.  
"I'm sorry Professor, but would it be possible for me to have some slugs please? I don't think the others are as advanced as me in the list, but there don't appear to be any on the front desk sir, I did check for them."  
  
The teacher frowned at him suspiciously. Surely Snape wouldn't be trying to play up his class?  
"Who else will require slugs?"  
  
The three Slytherins all raised their hands, checking their lists and looking confident. The teacher's eyes narrowed skeptically. Harry looked around at them innocently, pretending to be surprised at their inquiry.  
"Severus, may I see your book?"  
"Of course Professor."  
  
Snape handed it to him unsuspectingly. The teacher smiled maliciously, as though he'd just been proved right.  
"There is nothing on this list remotely resembling slugs. Fifteen points from Slytherin for wasting my time and trying to destroy the potions. As you at least should know, adding slugs to this potion would give you a Pepper Up potion, it could have hazardous effects if taken in the wrong quantities. Detention for you, Mr Snape, for putting this harmful prank into practice. I had thought that only the Gryffindors were immature enough to try to play jokes in lessons, but I must have been mistaken."  
"But Professor!" Sirius protested earnestly. "We haven't disrupted a lesson since third year! How could you think such a thing? Its so juvenile!"  
"Hmph," said the teacher doubtfully. "Don't interrupt, Mr Black. Kindly continue with your work, everyone."  
  
Snape glared at the Marauders. He had no problems at all in assigning the blame where it was due, especially with their smug expressions.  
"You'll pay for that!" he mouthed. Harry grinned at him, totally unconcerned by his meaningless threats. He wouldn't dare do anything else in Potions at the risk of losing even more points. 


	18. Chapter 17

"Lucius," Voldemort hissed malevolently. He was standing in a circle of his black robed followers, pacing impatiently around. What was even worse, he sounded pleased. "Report your findings about the Potter boy."  
  
"Yes Master," the other man said, even his voice sounding oily as he stepped forwards out of the ranks, bowing deeply. "Our research indicates that he has been sent back in time. Knowing the old fool Dumbledore, we have come to the conclusion that he has returned to when his parents were in their own sixth year at school."  
  
"Excellent Lucius, excellent. No doubt you have also found a suitable spell that we can use to follow him back, for mark my words, this time he shall not escape me and none of the meddling of the so-called Order of the Phoenix shall stop me. He is only a sixteen year old boy, no threat to the greatest Dark Lord of all time."  
  
"Of course master, Pettigrew and Umbridge have a spell he believes might work, we have already tested it on a few animals."  
  
"Rats?" Voldemort asked malevolently, enjoying the sight of the small Death Eater squirming uncomfortably where he stood in the ranks.  
  
"No master, Wormtail appears to have a soft-spot for the little beasts."  
  
"How . . . touching. Wormtail, come here!"  
  
"Yes Master," the traitor said, stepping forwards and trembling visibly under his heavy black robes. Harry felt a moment of pity for him as he watched, unable to interfere. How could the incompetent, devoted boy that was James's constant shadow have dropped to this level? Meddling with the future or not, he was going to do his best to keep him with the Light.  
  
"Showing weakness, are you Wormtail?"  
  
"Sorry Master, I can't help it Master."  
  
"A weak fool, are you not, Wormtail?"  
  
"Yes Master, very weak."  
"How inconvenient for me. I cannot allow my slaves to be weak, can I? Crucio!"  
  
Harry woke up with a start, groaning. He wasn't sure how that dream had happened, but it had, the first one in months. Whether it was just a nightmare or not, he wasn't entirely sure, but he had a horrible suspicion that it was true. Whatever happened, he must be ready for it, and step up his training schedule. It might be his only hope of survival, and if Voldemort managed to kill his parents - he was sure the Dark Lord wouldn't care about consequences - he would never be born at all. This was life or death. 


	19. Chapter 18

A scream cut the air like a knife. Harry jumped, and turned to look questioningly at the other Marauders. Had they got anything planned, or. . .  
"You didn't do that thing with the mice, did you Sirius?" James asked, also suspicious since Sirius had been planning to release mice on the Hufflepuff table. Sirius shook his head. James and Harry looked at each other.  
"Its coming from the Great Hall," Harry said seriously, pulling his wand from his pocket and starting to run down the corridor. The others fell in behind him. Harry hadn't kept secrets about how serious this could be.  
  
Harry pulled up short just outside the door and looked in. Students were huddling in terrified little groups by the walls and the teachers were trapped behind their table, except for Dumbledore, who was away at a meeting at the Ministry. A few, Professor McGonagall and Professor Flitwick for sure, seemed to be unconscious.  
  
Even worse than all that were the twenty or so black robed, masked figures that were prowling around, roughly questioning people and sparing none of their Dark curses. One was even sitting in Dumbledore's own seat!  
  
Harry took a deep breath, suddenly understanding that everything that was going on just as he'd feared, and stepped through the door into the Great Hall.  
"I was wondering where you were, Harry James Potter," said the cold, high voice Harry knew all too well.  
"You shouldn't have come here, Riddle, you already exist in this time frame," Harry said, desperately trying to intimidate his enemy and appear braver than he was. Mentally, he was quickly running through his options.  
  
"When better to kill you, Potter, than in front of your parents? They will then know that it is pointless for you even to be born, since you're going to die so young."  
  
"Everyone dies in the end, Riddle, that does not worry me. They know what I have already achieved against you and will know that my sacrifice will be worthwhile. However, do not be so confident that you will be victorious. This is a place where I am strong."  
  
Harry knew this to be true. Having the support of so many people would greatly increase his power, and he could imagine quite realistically what the Hogwarts wards thought about the presence of a Dark wizard.  
  
"I give you a final opportunity to leave," Harry said, his last hope of avoiding a fight.  
  
"Leave? I think not, Harry Potter. Let us finish the duel that you so rudely interrupted two years ago."  
  
"If you wish," Harry said negligently. "My conditions are these: that your followers return to our own time before we commence and that the students will not be harmed by you should you be victorious. That would disrupt the whole fabric of time."  
  
Voldemort laughed scornfully.  
"Why should I do that?"  
  
"Because otherwise the students here will kill them, and even if you succeed in killing me, your forces will be much depleted without many of your elite Death Eaters."  
  
"Very well," Voldemort said reluctantly, unwilling to concede the victory to a mere boy. "They are gone."  
  
"Master!" one protested. Harry thought that he recognized Lucius Malfoy's slimy voice. "You aren't giving in to him, are you? These children couldn't kill us? We are your Death Eaters, and they are mere students."  
  
"As I recall, Malfoy, that boy and his little friends have bested you more than once in the past. Go! Or I will kill you myself, you would be no great loss to my cause."  
  
The Death Eaters vanished hastily at that threat. They knew all to well that should they argue, it would be carried out without mercy. Voldemort stood up and came forwards down the main aisle to face Harry once more.  
  
"I know you can do it, Harry," James told him urgently, standing at his shoulder. "We're all with you."  
"Thanks James. . . Dad. Tell Lily I said bye, will you?"  
"But you'll win . . ."  
  
Harry sighed.  
"If I win, there's a chance that I will immediately return to my own time. I hope that you'll be seeing me again soon enough, though, whatever happens."  
"Me too," said James emphatically, glancing over to where Lily was standing.  
"You'd better go join the others now, it's going to get violent out here. See if you can put up some sort of shield for the younger ones, I don't want them to get hurt," Harry suggested.  
  
James looked at his son doubtfully, then nodded and went over to the wall where he entered a huddled conversation with Remus and Lily. A few seconds later, a shimmering white glow appeared between the children and Harry.  
  
Deciding, perhaps, that he'd wasted enough time, Voldemort came forwards to take his place opposite Harry, his wand raised ready in front of him. They bowed, straightened and, for a split second, Harry looked his enemy straight in the eye. A moment later, he was flying upwards into the enchanted, sky-like roof of the Great Hall, his red and gold phoenix wings beating strongly. Voldemort looked startled at this new development in Harry's abilities, then changed himself into a winged serpent and followed. Harry thought, rather inappropriately given the circumstances, that the Ministry must be very ineffective if there were so many illegal Animagi running around unregistered.  
  
Harry glanced down at James, mentally thanking him passionately for making him spend so much time practicing combat skills once he'd mastered the basic Animagi shape change. He dove viciously at the snake's body, gouging it deeply. Voldemort sent a bolt of pure, black energy flying at Harry, who dodged and dove in again, scoring another wound on the scaled body.  
  
Both of their shapes were magical creatures, and therefore had special powers. Harry had a fairly good idea of his, but Voldemort's were unknown and he'd have to watch out for them. Focussing deeply, Harry sent a bolt of fire streaking through the air. He felt relieved he'd spent so much time playing Quidditch: this was almost like a game - feint, attack, dodge, parry and dive in again.  
  
It was tiring work, and Harry soon felt himself flagging. With a cry, he sent one last bolt at Voldemort, who was now so covered in blood that it dripped grossly down on the food-covered tables below.  
  
It hit.  
  
Harry held his breath and watched as Voldemort lost control of his serpent form and, for a moment, lay suspended in the air. Then he was hurtling downwards. With a last glance up at Harry, he raised his wand one final time and cried,  
"Avada Kedavra!"  
  
The flash of green lighting that Harry saw so often in his dreams hit him squarely on his red-feathered chest. He had no time to dodge, no time to raise a shield. He was falling too, burning up. He only vaguely felt the impact as he hit the ground. He was dead. 


	20. Chapter 19

A/N: Well, here it is at last. Sorry to keep you waiting, but I was on a Geography fieldtrip with no access to a computer - poor me, poor you. Congratulations to those of you who guessed what I was going to do, a surprising number, and thanks to everyone who reviewed. I have to say that I'm surprised anyone thought I'd leave it there - I'm not quite that cruel, and yup, I know it was a very nasty cliffhanger. Here it is, enjoy.  
  
Suddenly, with darkening sight, Harry saw an aura of flames burst up around him. Everything came blindingly back into focus. Harry blinked rapidly to clear his vision and found, to his astonishment, that he was kneeling on the floor of the Great Hall, not a scratch on his body.  
  
Voldemort lay a mere meter away, his body bent and broken beneath the serpentine man's customary black robes, his wand snapped in two and lying beside him. Harry crawled over, his body complaining at the effort. His mortal enemy saw him with eyes that seemed resigned to death.  
"You've won, Harry Potter," Voldemort whispered hoarsely, sounding almost relieved. "You were a worthy opponent: the victory is yours." Then he coughed violently and fell silent.  
  
"He is almost dead," a familiar voice said from behind Harry. He looked around to see Professor Dumbledore, looking down at the two greatest students he had ever had the privilege of teaching. He helped Harry to his feet and explained.  
  
"I returned here while you fought. Knowing that you would triumph in the end, I helped to keep the students calm. It was prophesied that the cry of the phoenix would slay the serpent. Now you must say your farewells, for as soon as the life leaves his body, you will return to his own time, where I, no doubt, will be waiting for you. It is good for us all to know that the Dark Lord is killed in the end, however long it takes. It has been a pleasure to know you, Harry Potter, and I swear to you that I will do my best to ensure that you will grow up to achieve this destiny, however many rules I break in the process."  
  
Harry smiled slightly, knowing what the man had done for him. Then he had a thought.  
"Sir, how did he get into Hogwarts? Surely there are wards up restricting access. . ."  
"An oversight on my part, I fear. The name of Voldemort was listed on the forbidden access list and would have been recognized, however Tom Riddle was not. Knowing this, he had no problems entering. That has now been remedied. Goodbye, Harry Potter, you fought a fine duel and are a credit to us all."  
"Goodbye Professor."  
  
Dumbledore nodded, the twinkle gone from his eyes although he was smiling proudly, and went to help the other teachers with the younger students. The first year Hufflepuffs in particular were somewhat overwrought. Harry's friends rushed up to take his place. None of them realized that this battle meant that he would be leaving them for his own time.  
  
"You did it Harry!" Sirius whooped happily. Remus punched him discreetly, noting that Harry seemed slightly depressed.  
"I couldn't have done it without you guys teaching me. Well, I guess I'd better say goodbye. I'll have to return to my own time once Riddle dies. Peter," Harry began, feeling very rebellious. "Always remember that Voldemort will be killed in the end. Never give up hope."  
  
Peter looked at him, puzzled but assured him earnestly that he would. Suddenly, someone called from behind them.  
"Harry!" The boys looked round.  
"Uh oh," James said, looking slightly apprehensive. "I just hope that she didn't notice. . ."  
  
"Harry, you were brilliant!" Lily Evans exclaimed, hugging him. "Your parents must be so proud of you, I know mine would be if I'd just done that! You just killed You-Know-Who himself!"  
"Voldemort," Harry corrected her. "Fear of the name increases fear of the thing itself."  
"If you say so Harry," she agreed, then paused. "Why did he call you Potter?"  
  
She looked at James to check that he, as her boyfriend, was suitably jealous about the hug, but saw that he, Remus and Sirius were in hysterics. Peter just looked confused.  
"What did I say?" she demanded. "Who are you, Harry?"  
"Harry Potter, pleased to meet you," Harry said, grinning. "Hey Dad! Are you proud of me? You should be apparently."  
  
James looked at him mock doubtfully, trying to control his laughter enough to talk.  
"Yeah," he choked at last, before doubling up again. Lily stared at him.  
" He's your dad?" Lily asked incredulously. "Then you must be from the future! Wow, what's it like? Hang on, if James is your dad, who's your mum?"  
"Why, you are Lily," James said smugly, looking very self-satisfied. Much to his disappointment, far from being horrified, Lily suddenly laughed.  
"And to think that I wondered why you suddenly started to grow up enough to hold a civilized conversation with! You were trying to set Harry a good example! As if he needed it."  
  
James looked guilty, but Lily continued speaking to Harry.  
"Does this mean you're going now, Harry?" He nodded sadly.  
"Just remember, we'll always be with you: James, Remus, Sirius, Peter and me."  
"Thanks," Harry said, although no sound came out. He knew what would happen to this solid friendship. One a traitor and three dead - it was good they didn't know.  
  
Behind him, Voldemort coughed rackingly one final time and Harry stumbled abruptly forwards back into his own time, the enchantment ended at last.  
  
Strong hands gripped his shoulders, steadying him while he got his balance, and Harry looked up into a face and eyes as familiar to him as his own.  
"Dad?" Harry asked incredulously. He looked around the room - Dumbledore's study, just as it was meant to be but - "Sirius? Remus? Mum?" They were all there, grinning at his confusion just as they always had before . . .  
"Welcome back, Harry," James said, beaming with just a hint of mischief.  
  
Harry looked at them searchingly; none of them looked more than a few years older than they had at seventeen. He shook his head unbelievingly. Why had he thought they were dead? He'd grown up with them, and of course Peter wasn't there, because he'd died saving Harry from Voldemort sixteen odd years ago.  
"He's dead," Harry said, almost as though he didn't believe it himself. "We've won. The war's over."  
  
A/N: so that's it, the end, fine, finito. Please review and tell me now that its finally over, what you thought of it - every review makes it more likely that I'll keep writing. Now all my effort will be going into my other fanfics, so check those out if you haven't already. There will not be a sequel, I'm afraid, despite requests, simply because I'm already posting far too many fics at once and am completely blank as to what I could write. This just doesn't lend itself to a sequel - the story is over.  
  
Thanks for all your reviews and for being such patient (or impatient as the case may be) readers. You're support made it possible to finish. Keep reading BlueGryphon. 


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